On Clover Allies as Fodder Plants. 
299 
and found it more perennial in its habit than most of the clover 
allies. I feel convinced that it mii^ht be made a very useful 
addition to our list of fodder plants. 
XI. — Ulex — Furze, Gorse. 
The Ulex Europaus in its adult state is a plant without 
leaves, but, if the progress of its growth be traced from the seed, 
it will be found much as follows : — Its cotyledon or seed-leaves 
are oval ; the second leaves have a petiole or foot-stalk, broad for 
their size, with a small leaflet on either side near the apex. The 
next set of leaves have merely the petiole, after which the leaves 
become wholly spinose. Now, as these spines, into which the 
tips of the branches divaricate and which the leaves form, get 
more and more woody and hard — with age, slowness of growth, 
or poverty of soil — -it follows that furze when old requires to be 
mechanically prepared before it can be eaten by cattle without 
inconvenience ; hence an upright wooden mallet, having the 
lower end tipped with iron, has been used to bruise the plant ; 
where largely grown, iron rollers are employed for its more 
expeditious and certain preparation. 
Some thirty years ago it was grown so extensively as to warrant 
the purchase of expensive machinery, but its claims are now 
perhaps more loudly asserted than ever. This is perhaps attri- 
butable to the natural propensities and habits of the plant, which 
■delights to grow on poor sandy heaths and commons ; its chief 
recommendation being that it can be made to occupy extremely 
poor soil. It must however be borne in mind that the poorer 
the soil the less succulent the plant ; indeed it seems almost 
an axiom that plants of high feeding properties require good 
soils for their cultivation, and that plants which grow spon- 
taneously on poor soils do not possess such good qualities. 
Let not the reader suppose, however, that I would condemn 
the furze on these grounds, as I feel Convinced that if properly 
cultivated on tolerably good soil, its feeding properties will be 
greatly enhanced, so as to become worthy of attention, more 
especially as it takes so little from the land. As it may be 
interesting to know the amount of solid matter taken from the 
soil by furze and kindred plants, I extract the following from 
Johnston : — 
Percentage of Mineral Ingredients taken from the Soil. 
Green. Dry. 
1. Lucerne 2-6 .... 9-5 
2. Eed clover 1-6 .... 7-5 
3. White clover 1-7 .... 9-1 
4. Furze 0-82 .. .. 3-1 
Whether these notes would equally apply to all the forms oi 
