394 
Gorse. 
contained in the gorse of different localities on the farm.* During the 
whole of this period their work was exceedingly heavy ; principally 
employed in plDUghing for eight hours each day ; notwithstanding wliich, 
they kept in as good condition as is requisite for a fami horse ; and in 
fact in much better condiiion than what I have seen horses kept upon 
much more expensive provender. From the lOih of March to the 
present time (in consequence of a deficiency of this valuable plant) we 
have been obliged to curtail the allowance of each horse one-third, and to 
give in its stead 5 lbs. of oats mixed up with about the same weight of 
cut straw each day. 
One man only was employed to cut the gorse, and another was 
engaged part of each day in fetching it from the collector, and cutting it 
with the engine. The person employed to collect the gorse was a very 
old man, and past hard labour, therefore, of course, he would take 
double the time to collect a given quantity that a younger and stronger 
man would. 
The quantity consumed by the ten horses was generally converted into 
food, strippivig of stalks and everything included, in about the space of 
one hour and a half, or at the furthest two hours. Our engine is driven 
by one horse, and requires no driver or any other attendant besides the 
man who feeds the engine. The diameter of the gin-race or horse 
course is eighteen fcct, and the number of cuts the engine makes, for 
one revolution of the horse, is 104. It therefore follows, that in the space 
of one hour, the horse walking 2J miles in that time, the engine will have 
made 12,662 revolutions; and, during each revolution (having four 
knives), will have made four cuts, each cut exhibiting a sectional area of 
22j square inches. The length of the cut I cannot give you, as that 
depends upon the way the engine is set to work ; many of the newest 
construction cutting it at two or three ditTerent lengths. 
There is hardly a farmer in Anglesey but will (this year especialh) 
speak loudly in praise of gorse ; but, as you are well aware, its culture 
is exceedingly neglected. Very few persons in the island have ever 
directed iheir attention to the proper cultivation of it, but have been 
content to derive their supplies from the spontaneous production of tlie 
rocks and other waste places, and what little they may have sown upon 
the tops of their fences. 
I am clearly of opinion that, as food for working horses, it is the most 
valuable substitute we have for that expensive article hay, and with a 
little modification in the preparation of it to suit the natures of cattle 
and sheep, may with equal success be used as the chief artiple of 
provender for them also. 
No. 8. 
Prom Mr. Edwards, the occupier of a large Farm and an extensive 
Coach and Horse Proprietor i/i Carnarvon. 
Uxlridge Arms Hotel, 22nd April, 1845. 
The result of my experience of gorse as food for horses is, that I Iiavc 
fed fifty horses upon it, mixed with hay and straw, for tlic greater pait 
