The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-07-12
TOPICS FOR THE A r
. Forage Plant Worth Considering

A 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 INT 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-
p~erience 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 a fir plantation, supplied young shoots
from one foot to three feet in length,
which were cut by a field worker with a
hook, and led to the stealing, where
they were bruised with a hammer, hav-
ing a 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
much furze in the morning on a 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.
Wins may also be prepared by placing
them on a wooden block bruising them
with a light mallet, having on its face a
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 a center post
by a swivel working on a pin in the top
of it. To the other end of the axle a
swingle-tree was attached, and a 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 a spiked roller working against
rows of spikes fixed in a frame, or by
passing them through one of the dis
| migrating machines now becoming COM
mon, as Carriers d~isintegrator, or by cut
ting them up along with a little straw by
means of a 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 sufi-
| cient one for reducing whins to a 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.
Wins 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 amountof 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 at
present on the soils for which they are
adapted. They are protected against
drought by the depth to which their
roots descend. Their roots are also able
to draw supplies of food from a lower
stratum of the soil or subsoil than
other plants, and thus avail themselves
of resources which otherwise are mac.
cessible.
Whin seed may be sown broadcast al
the rate of twenty or thirty pounds pei
acre, with a grain crop following agreer
crop. When once established, whins
Will yiCiu d I'LL SioP ahhualy dSoou
many years, and as the only expense, il
addition to rent, is that of cutting and
preparing them, they yield, On suitable
soils, a larger profit than any Other
crop.
Furze or whin is a small, slender
branched evergreen shrub, belonging tt
the Leguminosg or pea-family of plants
The leaves are very small and somewhar
spiny; the flowers are also small and but
terfy-shaped and yellow. 1t is not hardy
in the Northern States, the stems killing
down in winter, but the roots usually
survive and throw up vigorous shoots il
spring. The dwarf furze (Uzer nanus
succeeds best on high, dry grounds, anc
would probably ~bevaluable for the Middle
and Southern States, anddoubtless would
be valuable on high, dry Western plains
especially in Southern Colorado, New
Mexico and California. We have cul
tivated the different species of furze al
ornamental plants, but have never tested
it for feeding stock.