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XLIII. — On the Cultivation and Preparation of Gorse as Food 
for Cattle. By Sandham Elly. 
Thb following circumstance first brought the cultivation of gorse 
as food for cattle under my attention. 
A very poor man, the ranger of an extensive wood, and also 
holding a small farm near my grounds, had but one horse to do 
all the business of his farm. This unfortunate animal was worked 
six days in the week on the farm, and even " Sunday shone no 
Sabbath-day to him," for he had to draw the family to the parish 
chapel, some miles distant. 
Being quite unused to the luxury of hay or oats, he notwith- 
standing showed good condition, high spirits, with a fine and 
glossy coat. This anomaly created an inquiry into the system of 
feeding practised by the farmer, which was found to be one feed 
of boiled potatoes daily, and pounded gorse without limitation. 
This was his food for the winter ; in summer he grazed in the 
woods. 
It occurred to me, that as a horse and a cow lived much on the 
same diet, the food that would fatten a horse could not be very 
bad for a cow; and having heard that in Staffordshire gorse was 
extensively cultivated, I crossed the Channel, in the year 1836, 
for the purpose of obtaining information on the subject, but did 
not obtain admittance into any of those establishments, save one, 
that of Mr. Greysbroke, situate on the borders of Worcestershire, 
who Tvas polite enough to take me over his farm, and gave me 
much information. He had thirty milch cows, a bull, and six 
very large farm horses, all in high condition, and exclusively fed 
on gorse, with the exception of one feed daily of a cooler diet, 
gorse being considered too rich a food for constant feeding. 
Neither hay nor oats given to cows or horses. This very flatter- 
ing picture caused me to commence immediate operations, the 
result of which I shall give under the different heads, as laid 
down by the Royal Agricultural Society. 
1, Quality of the Land where the Gone is sown. 
My grounds are situate in the county of Wexford, bordering 
the county of Kilkenny, some parts so hilly that they are called 
the Apennines; the soil is six inches deep, of good quality, sub- 
soil shingle. 
My first experiment in sowing gorse seed was in 1837, on a flat 
field of four statute acres. I sowed the field with Chevalier barley, 
and then put in the gorse (20 stone to the acre) under the harrow, 
as we sow clover-seed, and rolled it. The barley came up very 
well, and the gi)rse very partially, part of the seed not appearing 
for six months, while some appeared in ten days. The summer 
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