330 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



In Belgium, France, Jutland and Kussia it is grown as a forage crop and 

 for hay. In France its yield is estimated to be about equal to a crop of 

 cloYer, or 7,700 pounds per acre. The seeds are fed to cattle and horses, and 

 are thought to be about equal to rape cake in value. 



It is a quick and rapid growing crop, which in five or six weeks gains its 

 full height of twelve to fourteen inches, and is said to be a valuable feed for 

 cows, improving the quantity and quality of the butter. 



Sown in the middle of April with seed at the rate of fifteen to twenty-four 

 pounds to the acre, it matures the last of May, and a second crop may be 

 grown, maturing in August or September. As a catch crop, after rye or 

 oats, spurry bas been grown and fed off and the fertilizing effects were esti- 

 mated to be equal to from four to six cart-loads of dung per acre. It has 

 been called the "clover of sandy soils." 



" Swartz (a high authority on practical agriculture in Germany), in his 

 account of the Belgium husbandry, says: ' Without spurry, the Campine, the 

 best cultivated soil in the world, would have been still a desert. A plant 

 like this, which requires no manure for itself, and which even when mown, 

 by the residue it leaves, gives back more than it takes from the soil — which 

 demands no fixed place in the rotation, but which is satisfied to come in as 

 an after-crop whenever the soil is at liberty — which, except for the seed, 

 requires no preparation; which is satisfied with a soil on which nothing else 

 but rye will grow; which increases the quantity of milk and butter, and 

 improves their quality, and which I am persuaded may be raised with advan- 

 tage, even on the best soils, provided only they are somewhat light. A proof 

 of this is the land of Waas (Waesland in Flanders), the garden of Europe. "^ 

 (The locality here referred to is between Ghent and Antwerp, or the central 

 area of the Campine sands.) 



Von Voght, another acknowledged authority, is quite as enthusiastic in 

 regard to the value of spurry on light, sandy soils. The seed sown in France 

 and Belgium is imported from Russia, 



From these statements of the characteristic qualities of spurry, it should 

 certainly have a trial on the plain lands of Northern Michigan. 



In planning a system of crops in rotation, provision should be made for an 

 abundant supply of cattle food in sufficient variety, as the elements of fer- 

 tility can be better economized by making the sales of the farm almost 

 exclusively of animal products. 



But a small proportion of the fertilizing constituents of foods are retained 

 by the animal to supply the wants of the system and a large proportion 

 can be returned to the soil to promote future productiveness. 



An active circulation of fertilizing materials may thus be kept up, constitut- 

 ing the circulating capital of the farm, and with the least possible waste of 

 the elements of fertility. 



A variety of stock, including cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry, will be found 

 the most economical in the conversion of the crops of the farm into animal 

 products. 



Satisfactory results can only be obtained with animals of the best quality 

 or those that give the largest net returns for food consumed. Inferior stock 

 cannot be profitably kept on any farm, but they are greatly at a disadvantage 

 on light soils where the strictest economy of materials must be practiced in 

 every process. 



As a general rule the smaller, hardy breeds will give better returns in both 

 quantity and quality of the product. 



