GORSE AS FOOD FOB STOCK IN WINTER.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 498, 7 February 1880, Page 2

GORSE AS FOOD FOB STOCK IN WINTER.

(Tt» ike Editor of the Pate a. Mail.) Sin, —In the discussion which followed the reading of a paper on New Zealand Forestry, by Mr G. W. Williams, before the Wellington Philosophical Society afew weeks ago, some of the members demurred to the proposal to sow go iso as a 'means of reclaiming drifting sand. I contend that if gorse is an evil, drifting sami is a worse one ; but apart from this, I do not think it is generally known how high gorse stands as a fattening and fleshprodneing food. Thefollowiug table gives the comparative imitative qualifies of different kinds of fodder, by which it will be seen that, with one except ion (that of clover ha}'), gorse combines the greatest fattening and flesh-producing qualities : Flesh Fat formers formers. Gorse 3.21 9.83 Cabbage ... 1.(53 5.06 Kohi Kabi ... 2.75 8.62 Mangol ... 1.54 8.60 Swedes ... 1.94 593 Carrots ... 0.60 10.18 Common turnips 1.80 4.43 Clover hay ... 4.27 9.14 The on’y difficulty is in getting the gorse chopped up ; but Messrs McKenzie & Co., of Cork, have lately been awarded a silver medal for their new “ masticator,” by which, I understand, the gorse is crushed by a system of rollers. If gorse were sown on drifting sand, it could be effectually prevented from spreading beyond due bounds by turning sheep on to it periodically, and thus prevent it reproducing itself by seeding.—l am, &c., F PAN.