146 
On Green or Fodder Crops. 
yearling heifers ; they seemed to relish them, for they gobbled them up in a 
very short time. The plant requires clean, rich, well-manured land." 
GOESE. 
Gorse, known in some districts as whin and in others as furze 
{Ulex Europceas), has also claims of perhaps the highest kind to 
be considered a crop which, although not generally cultivated, has 
been found of great service. Mr. J, Forrester (Lord Portman's 
manager at Bryanston, Dorset) is accustomed, when the spring 
is backward, and other green food not plentiful, to have the 
young shoots of wild furze bushes gathered by the cart-load from 
the extensive sheep-downs belonging to the home farm and 
brought to the homestead to be crushed, cut, and mixed up with 
straw, chaff, and other food. Farmers on the borders of large 
heath commons and wastes, no less than those in the neighbour- 
hood of cattle and sheep runs, are accustomed almost yearly to 
do the same thing, and in this nomad way gorse is the source of 
much valuable food. But the hardy wild plant, when transferred 
to field culture, often proves a perfect treasure, especially on 
poor soils, usually destitute of roots and green food of other kinds 
in the months of March, April, and May. Mr. Martin H. 
Sutton says of Gorse : " It produces such a large supply of food 
for such a small amount of expenditure, that it deserves the 
notice of every stockmaster." One of the good qualities of 
the crop is, that when once a plant has been obtained, like 
lucerne, sainfoin, and comfrey, it retains possession of the soil 
and goes on to yield fresh produce without renewal for several 
successive years. The best way to form a plantation is to 
work a piece of land to a fine tilth at the latter part of March, 
or in April, and deposit the seed in diills, 9 inches apart, at the 
rate of from 20 to 30 lbs. of seed per acre. Some cultivators are 
accustomed to put in only about half these quantities of seed, 
and to place their rows at about 18 inches apart. 
Probably much more extensive breadths of land would be 
cropped with gorse in the present times of agricultural depres- 
sion but for the fact that after the seed has been sown no returns 
come until the autumn or winter of the following year ; or in other 
words, that it takes two years to mature the first crop. The 
young tender plants also require a little attention the first summer, 
so as not to become choked with weeds. One of the chief 
advantages of drilling is that it gives the opportunity of hoeing 
being effected during the first summer. After a good strong plant 
has been developed, there is no difficulty or expense whatever ; 
from tolerably good land annual cuttings have been made, varying 
from 7 to 10 tons yearly, and such a quantity of produce may be 
confidently calculated on for many years. 
