WHITE LUPIN 437 



Common gorse is cultivated in some districts upon thin, 

 apparently sterile sandy soils, and utilised as food for horses 

 and cows in winter. It forms very nutritious fodder, and cows 

 are said to give a better yield of milk when fed with gorse than 

 when they are given good meadow hay ; moreover, the milk is 

 of rich quality. 



Before being fed to stock, the stiff spiny branches of the 

 plant are generally crushed between rollers or otherwise bruised 

 and softened by special simple machinery. 



The seed is drilled in rows lo to i8 inches apart in April or 

 May on clean ground at the rate of lo to 15 lbs. per acre. 



The young plants are slow in growth, and the first cut is 

 taken in the second year. After being established the crop is 

 cut chiefly in winter and spring when green food is scarce. 



In some districts an annual cut is taken, while in others the crop 

 is cut once every two years ; in the latter case alternate rows are cut. 

 Dyer's Greenweed or Woad-wax (Genus Genista). 



To this genus belongs Dyer's Greenweed (Genista tinctoria L.), 

 a shrubby leguminous weed of stiff clay soils (p. 606). 

 Rest-harrow (Genus Ononis). 



23. To this genus belongs Rest-harrow {Ononis spinosa L.), a 

 shrubby weed common in many districts, and difficult to exter- 

 minate on account of its deeply-penetrating roots (see p. 604). 



Lupins (Genus Lupinus). 



24. The genus Lupinus includes a large number of species of herb- 

 aceous and half shrubby plants many of which are grown in gardens 

 for their handsome spikes or heads of brightly-coloured flowers. 



Several annual species are cultivated on the Continent as farm 

 crops for 'green manuring,' the chief of these being Yellow 

 Lupin {Lupinus luteus L.), and in lesser degree Blue Lupin (Z. 

 angustifolius L.) and White Lupin (Z. albus L.). 



All the species are exceptionally rich in nitrogenous constitu- 

 ents and grow on poor sandy soils, which they enrich enormously 

 when ploughed in. 



