The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-07-12
TOPICS FOR THE FARM.
, Forage Plant Worth Considering-


With Prickly Comfrey, Jerusalem
Artichokes and similar long-neglected
plants lately brought prominently to
the notice of our farmers, it is to be
hoped that we shall soon cease to hear of
starving herds in any part of the coun-
try, whether the land be rich or poor, or
the climate is dry or not. But the list
of neglected plants is not by any means
exhausted, and no one need despair of
finding some one or more good forage
| plants, adapted to his climate and soil,
no matter how uncongenial they may
appear to be to ordinary and well-known
crops.
Among the latest revivals of old things,
the English Farmer bids the farmers of
Great Britain to remember the Gorse or
| Whin, which thrives where few other
plants will grow. Years ago Stephens,
in his Book of the Farm, in speaking of
this plant says:
That horses will thrive on bruised
| whins or furze, / had considerable ex-
| perience in the winter of 1926, in conse-
| quence of the heat of that summer hav-
| ing burned up the straw of all sorts of
| grain on light soil. Old whins growing
| in fir plantation, supplied young shoots
from one foot to three feet in length,
which were cut by field worker with
| hook, and led to the steading, where
| they were bruised with a hammer, hav-
ing shank three feet eight inches in
length, a bulged-out part to give the i'm
| plement weight, and shod with an iron
cutter four inches square and three
inches deep, having its lower edges sharp
ened, and furnished with three parallel
cutters riveted to it by their ends. Every
4 L,
much furze in the morning on stone
| floor, in twenty minutes, as served his
horses for the day. These horses relished
the whins better than hay, and became
remarkably fine in condition and coat.
Whins may also be prepared by placing
them on a wooden block bruising them
with a light mallet, having on its face
number of parallel cutters set pretty
close together.
When whins are employed for feeding
on a larger scale, the old whin-mill, not
uncommon in some parts of the country
fifty years ago, may be revived. 1t con-
sisted of an old milestone set on edge
with an axle fixed in the eye. One end
of the axle was attached to center post
by swivel working on a pin in the top
of it. To the other end of the axle a
swingle-tree was attached, and horse
being yoked to it, the milestone was
caused to describe a circular course. The
course was paved, and the whins laid
upon it were bruised by the milestone
passing over them. Or they may be
bruised by spiked roller working against
rows of spikes fixed in frame, or by
passing them through one of the dis
integrating machines now becoming COM
mon, as Carter's disintegrator, or by cut
ting them up along with little straw by
means of common straw-cutter. The
last mode of preparation reduces them
sufficiently for horses, especially if
passed twice through the straw-cutter,
but is not so suitable for cows or other
cattle. Walsh's machine is a very suffi-
! cient one for reducing whins to soft
and eatable condition. 1t consists of a
pair or two pairs of axles, of which those
forming one pair are caused to revolve in
| opposite directions. On each axle are
fixed a row of saw-toothed disks, and the
axles of each pair are placed at such a
distance that the disks work into each
other, and so tear up and crush the
whins
Whins do not thrive on good land, but
on poor, open, gravelly soils, on which it
is difficult to grow remunerative crops,
they will grow luxuriantly, and produce
| annually an amount of green food averag-
ing perhaps about ten tons per acre, and
worth not less, under any circumstances
than five dollars per acre. 1t is, there
fore, surprising that they are not cult
waited to a much greater extent than al
present on the soils for which they are
adapted. They are protected against
brought by the depth to which theil
roots descend. Their roots are also able
to draw supplies of food from a lowel
) stratum of the soil or subsoil thar
other plants, and thus avail themselve
} | IF resources which otherwise are inac
} | cessible.
: Whin seed may be sown broadcast a
| the rate of twenty or thirty pounds pc
? acre, with grain crop following greer
f crop. When once established, whin
will yield full crop annually for goot
: many years, and as the only expense, il
addition to rent, is that of cutting ant
: preparing them, they yield, on suitabl
s soils, larger profit than any othe
a crop.
0 Furze or whin is small, slender
: branched evergreen shrub, belonging t
, the Leguminose or pea-family of plants
t The leaves are very small and somewha
Y spiny the flowers are also small and but
: terfy-shaped and yellow. It is not hard
: in the Northern States, the stems killin
= down in winter, but the roots usuall
e survive and throw up vigorous shoots il
: spring. The dwarf furze (Uler ndnus
n succeeds best on high, dry grounds, an
e would probably bevaluable for the Middl
i and Southern States, and doubtless woul
n be valuable on high, dry Western plains
especially in Southern Colorado, Ney
Mexico and California. We have cul
j. tivated the different species of furze a
ornamental plants, but have never teste
| IL for feedinu stock