200 THE GORSE CROP. 



itself, the gorse, was not much more than one-fourth that 

 of the hay, for which it was found to be such a satisfactory 

 substitute. 



Gorse has never assumed such a position among our cul- 

 tivated crops as to call attention to the diseases to which 

 it, like all other plants, is more or less liable. At present our 

 cultivation has caused it to depart but very little from its 

 own natural condition ; it is as we advance in cultivation, 

 and depart from the normal conditions of a plant, that 

 it begins to exhibit a debilitated constitution, and a dispo- 

 sition to be influenced by circumstances which in its 

 natural state would probably not have produced any inju- 

 rious effect upon it. We know, however, that it is liable 

 to be attacked in its wild state by the " common dodder" 

 Cuscuta europcear one of those curious parasitic plants 

 which have already been described and figured at p. 123. 

 This would occasion considerable loss were it to find its 

 way into a regularly cultivated field of gorse, as, owing to 

 the growth of the plant, it would be well-nigh impossible 

 to extirpate it except at the sacrifice of a considerable 

 amount of the crop. 



About the insect injuries we have but little to say, 

 more than that it is probable that some of the insects 

 already described as infesting leguminous plants are also 

 capable of injuring the gorse, though the particular indivi- 

 duals or their mode of action have not been pointed out 

 by our entomologists. 



The chemistry of the crop is also in a rather unsatis- 

 factory state. We have no very reliable analysis of its 

 organic composition. Those given by Sprengel and by 

 Waldie, 1 are detailed so differently to the present practice 

 of chemists, as to have but little value for our purpose. 

 The only information we have upon the subject is from 



1 Roy. Agri. Soc. Journal, vol. vi. p. 397. 



