242 
AMERICAN agriculturist, 
The Furze, Gorse, or Whin. 
The names given above are applied in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the British Isles to one of the 
commonest of the native shrubs of that coun¬ 
try. The common Furze, Ulex Europaeus is 
a very variable plant and grows as high as 
six or eight feet, while the Dwarf Furze 
Thu furze (Ulex Europaeus), 
(U. nanus, though by some regarded as only 
a variety), is from one to three feet high. 
Young seedling plants have three-parted 
ordinary leaves, but the leaves in the older 
plants are all developed as spines, as shown 
by the engraving of a twig of the real size. 
The flowers are bright yellow, the calyx 
being colored and petal-like, and show by 
their form that the plant is one of the Pea 
Family. It blooms in spring and usually 
again in autumn. Sometimes with the 
heather it covers large tracts, and the two in 
bloom at the same time make a fine floral 
display. A double-flowered form, still more 
showy, is cultivated in gardens. The shrub, 
on account of its abundant prickles, is used 
for hedges in mild climates, and when 
kept properly cut, answers well for the pur¬ 
pose. As it will flourish near the sea, Furze 
is planted in such situations to shelter young 
trees and other shrubs. On waste land 
near cities the shrub is raised for making fag¬ 
gots with which to heat baker’s ovens, it be¬ 
ing cut when three years old. It makes a 
large quantity of ashes when burned, and 
these being rich in potash, are used by the 
country people as a substitute for soap; the 
ashes are also employed as a fertilizer. The 
shrub is by some highly valued as a forage 
plant, but on account of its spiny character, 
animals can only feed upon the young shoots 
that push after it has been burned over or 
cut, and it is grown for forage on poor soils, 
mowing it occasionally for the sake of its 
[May, 
new growth. The old stems are utilized by 
beating them with mallets to bruise the 
spines and bring them into a condition in 
which the animals can eat them. Several 
machines have been invented for the purpose 
of bringing the plant into a manageable con¬ 
dition. Horses, cattle and sheep are said to 
thrive upon the bruised Furze. The agricul¬ 
turists of the present day differ much in 
their estimation of the feeding value of the 
plant. A well known French agricultural 
writer speaks of it as “one of the best 
forages known,” and that it is “equal to 
clover and Lucerne, with the advantage that 
it can be had at all times, especially in 
early spring after the roots have been ex¬ 
pended.” English authorities differ, while 
some extol it highly, others say that “not¬ 
withstanding the fact that it will grow upon 
the poorest soils, where scarcely anything 
else will grow, yet the cost of machinery and 
the labor of preparing it, are too great to 
allow recommending it for general use.” 
The Furze, except in the south of England, 
is often cut by the frost, and it cannot be de¬ 
pended upon in this country, north of Vir¬ 
ginia. We have succeeded in keeping it by 
allowing the lower branches to trail upon the 
ground, and when these are covered with 
snow, the plant endures the winter. 
Too Much Cultivation for Fruit Trees. 
Some orchards get too much culture after 
they are three or four years old. Under that 
age it is hardly probable that they will be in¬ 
jured by any amount of careful cultivation, 
for the roots have not yet worked up to the 
surface, where they can be injured. But as 
soon as we begin to inter¬ 
fere with the surface roots, 
the tree, in self defense, 
begins to send its rootlets 
downward into the cold, 
sour soil, and the wonder 
will be why the trees are 
so backward about leav¬ 
ing out and blossoming; 
and why, when pains have 
been taken to cultivate the 
trees, they should be so 
unfruitful. Can anything 
be more fruitful than 
those walnut trees, or 
those wild plum trees in 
the woods yonder ? They 
have never been cultiva¬ 
ted, yet they are never 
grass-bound. If one digs 
down at the foot of these 
trees, he will find several 
inches of the finest mould, 
and it is not drawn away 
as soon as the snow goes 
off in the spring. Each 
autumn adds another lay¬ 
er of leaves to the rich 
mould. Now our fruit 
trees are mostly deprived 
of this natural enrich¬ 
ment and protection, 
when set in an open field, where the wind 
can have free access to sweep aw 7 ay the 
leaves. We should give them an equivalent 
in some form, to protect the roots in summer 
as well as in winter. This may be several 
inches of leaf-mould from the woods, or a 
similar covering of half-rotted straw. 
A Neighborhood Park. 
Those who have visited the neighborhood 
parks, at Orange, N. J., and elsewhere around 
New York, need not be told of the charming 
effect produced by the abolition of fences, 
hedges, and all boundary marks, and treating 
of the whole, except the immediate surround¬ 
ings of the dwellings, upon one general plan. 
What has been so successfully carried out 
on an extensive scale may be followed by a 
few neighbors with excellent effect. The 
engraving shows what may be done by throw¬ 
ing the grounds of three adjoining estates 
into one. Mr. Elias Long, of Buffalo. N. Y., 
a writer on landscape gardening, gives a 
method of making a garden front to a row of 
several town houses. In the illustration, 
below the rear grounds of three adjoining 
estates, of several acres each, are laid out ac¬ 
cording to a general design, and all parts, ex¬ 
cept in the immediate vicinity of the houses, 
are kept up and used jointly. Each house 
has a private arbor and an ample clothes-dry- 
ing lawn; and there is a carriage-house for 
each, two of them being under one roof. As 
Mr. Long says, This arrangement has much 
to commend it. The grounds are much finer 
in garden effect than could be secured in 
working with divided areas. There is a grove 
at the left; there is a lakelet of fair size, with 
a drive crossing it by a bridge; there are 
broad areas of lawn and an extended carriage- 
drive, features, not one of which could be 
well carried out on a third portion of the 
whole. The conservatory is three in one, 
each family having a wing, with a central 
bed for show plants contributed by all. There 
are two carriage and four foot entrances, all 
■jo-- 
A NEIGHBORHOOD PARE. 
of which lead conveniently to the houses and 
to the rear pleasure grounds. Of course there 
is no limit to the variations allowable in carry¬ 
ing out this system. Any number of houses 
and gardens of any size, where suitably situ¬ 
ated, might be embraced in it ”—such a park 
to be laid out after one comprehensive plan. 
