88 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



particular about the time they sow or plant anything, I may say that there is 

 nothing to be gained by sowing such seeds early. A very good time is in April, 

 when the nightingale comes, May, or early in June; and, as there is no cover- 

 ing or transplanting, it does not much matter if the seeds are sown at night ! It 

 must not, however, be thought an altogether haphazard business, because the 

 man with the bag is supposed to know his plants and the places that are likely to 

 suit them. Furze seed is sold at a low price by all the great seed houses of Europe 

 if bought in any quantity; but this year the seed is much scarcer and dearer 

 than usual. Other kinds of Furze I have tried in like ways, and find that the tall 

 one known as the Foxbrush (Ulex strictus) does equally well. It is a very rapid 

 grower and a fine, useful aid for the farm, as it faggots more compactly than any 

 other Furze. The seed, however, is not so easily procured. Much less vigorous 

 than this is the dwarf Furze (U. nanus) , which abounds in rough heaths in many 

 parts of the country, but the seed is not easily obtainable. It thrives and looks 

 well. Sown in places where a compacter growth is wanted, it is as free and easy 

 as any, and may be sown just in the same way. In all these sowings there is no 

 covering given, the seed is simply thrown over ground likely to suit the plants. 

 The dwarf Furze is beautiful in autumn when all the other bushes are losing 

 their charms, and best for low foregrounds and rather bare, stony places. 



The Brooms. — I never fancied these so much as the Furzes, owing to their 

 scraggy habit (when old) not forming such good covert, though they are very 

 beautiful. The best, the Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum), flowers much 

 later than the others, and is a showy, handsome plant, growing on any gravelly 

 or sandy place, no matter how dry. I saw no place so suitable for this as a rail- 

 way bank near, so standing on the top of the bank I scattered the seed and let 

 it fall on a steep slope formed of debris and with no soil. The natural soil of 

 the place is about as poor as any on the habitable earth, so that what the Broom 

 had to grow on may be imagined — simply shaly rock — and the bank was over- 

 run by rabbits. After some time the Spanish Broom began to sow itself. I was 

 encouraged to sow more in spite of the rabbits, and there are now thousands 

 of bushes on this waterless, soilless bank, and a beautiful bloom comes in mid- 

 summer after most of the flowering shrubs are past, the efTect being good as far 

 as it can be seen. Our native Broom (Cytisus scoparius) is a very beautiful plant, 

 though it does not make such good covert as the Furze. I have sown large 

 quantities of it with success where rabbits are kept out, but it is more apt to 

 perish from their attacks than the Furze. I have had, on a sandy blufT, bushes 

 1 2 feet high, and it is very graceful where it grows here and there in quarries 

 or rough, stony places. The seed is usually very cheap, and it must not be for- 

 gotten in any planting of this sort. The Portuguese (or white) Broom (C7. albus) 

 is a graceful bush and comes freely from seed, which should be sown in sandy, 

 warm places. Sow early in June. One of my reasons for sowing the seeds of 



