. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 588 SPURRY SUGAR-BEET. the Old World. Only two species have been culti- vated, one of which is the common or sand spurry {Spergida arvensh) and the other the giant spurry (S. maxima). The latter differs principally in its larger size and by some botanists is considered a mere variety of the former. Because of its large size it is a more valuable species under cultivation. S. arvensis is an annual, growing twelve to fifteen inches tall, and producing a mass of stems bearing numer- ous whorls of narrow, linear leaves. The spurrys are closely
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 588 SPURRY SUGAR-BEET. the Old World. Only two species have been culti- vated, one of which is the common or sand spurry {Spergida arvensh) and the other the giant spurry (S. maxima). The latter differs principally in its larger size and by some botanists is considered a mere variety of the former. Because of its large size it is a more valuable species under cultivation. S. arvensis is an annual, growing twelve to fifteen inches tall, and producing a mass of stems bearing numer- ous whorls of narrow, linear leaves. The spurrys are closely related to chickweed. Spurry is cultivated con- siderably by dairy farmers, especially on sandy soils, in Holland and to a less extent in Great Britain and Ger- many. The common spurry occurs throughout this coun- try and is sometimes trouble- some as a weed in grain, espe- cially on sandy lands. About Sitka and other places on the Alaskan coast it is the most troublesome weed yet intro- duced. The seed yield is eight rV'^lr* /jf^ ^^ twelve bushels or more per valfe^ acre, and it is largely owing to its enormous seed produc- tion that it becomes trouble- some. Spurry has been largely in this country in an experimental way and great hopes were enter- tained that it would become an exceedingly valu- able crop on the sandy jack-pine lands of Michigan, which, however, has not proved to be the case. In the light of our present knowledge it can not be recommended as a farm crop in any part of the United States. The value of spurry depends largely on its rapid growth, the crop maturing in six to ten weeks from seeding. It is mostly fed green and is considered an especially good feed for dairy cattle and sheep. It is not infrequently refused by live- stock at first, but animals soon become used to it and eat it readily either as hay or as pasture. It has also been used as a green-manure crop on sandy soils, and in exceptional cases has yielded as much as twenty tons of green .
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