THE FURZE IN ITS GLORY 295 



the furze as a " vegetable trifle," and even goes so far 

 as to give it a few favourable words, but without any- 

 thing about its appearance, for that did not touch him. 

 It is not a wholly useless plant, says Evelyn ; it is 

 good for faggots, also it affords covert for wild fowl, 

 and the tops (bruised) may be recommended for a sickly 

 horse. " It will thoroughly recover and plump him." 



I have often watched the semi-wild ponies of the 

 New Forest browsing quite freely on the blossomed 

 tops, which they bruised for themselves with their 

 own molars ; and now I know that the furze is also 

 "good for faggots." I have described how, while 

 staying at a small moorland farm during the winter, 

 we had furze for fuel, and how the dried bushes 

 made a glorious heat and illumination in the open 

 wide fireplace of the old dark kitchen and living- 

 room. A couple of months later when the plant 

 was in full blossom acres and miles and leagues of 

 it I could do no less than sing my poor little prose 

 song of praise and gratitude. To me it is never 

 " unprofitably gay," nor, when I handle it, does it 

 wound my hardened fingers, causing me to recoil and 

 cry out with the sensitive poet of the Task that it 

 repels us with its treacherous spines as much as it 

 attracts with its yellow bloom. 



The beauty of the furze in flower that special 

 beauty and charm in which it excels all other plants 

 is an effect of contrast, and is a beauty only seen in 

 the entire plant, over which the bloom is distributed. 

 We see that in shape and size, and almost in colour, 

 the blossom nearly resembles that of the broom, but 



