122 STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BULLETINS. 



plant will much more than repay all the outlay that has been made at the 

 Grayling station. The many other valuable results remain in favor of the 

 continued work. The work of the station has just begun. Its future may 

 develop more financial good to the State, than, pehaps, any work now in 

 progress. 



The farmers in the neighborhood of Grayling have carefully observed 

 the action of spurry from the first. To some of them seed was given to 

 try on their own farms, and in every case where they experimented with 

 care they have had good success, and are now warm friends of the new 

 plant. From some of them have come letters stating their experience 

 with the plant and their opinion of its value. Several of these letters are 

 here given. 



Gi^ayling, Mich., January 14, 1893. 



Pres. O. Clute, Director Experiment Station. Agricultural College, Mich.: 



Dear Sir — I have given the growing of spurry two fair trials. The first one was for 

 fertilizing my land. I mowed four swaths 34 rods long, after it had been ripe about 

 six or eight days, and got seven bushels of seed. I tried the dry straw for stock the 

 next winter. Cows ate it well. Horses did not like it. 



My second trial was for pasture and experiment. I like it for pasture and I like it 

 for plowing under. It helps the land as well or better than clover. With proper car© 

 15 or 20 bushels of seed can be raised to the acre. 



Truly yours, 



A. J. Rose. 



Grayling, Mich., 1st, Feb., 1893. 



Pres. O. Clute, Director of the Experiment Station : 



Dear Sir — As a fertilizer spurry is next to clover. It will grow wnere clover will 

 not. I sowed some on a piece of ground where the clover would not catch. In the fall 

 I plowed it under and sowed the land with clover and timothy and got a good catch. 

 Also last spring I sowed two acres of an eighteen acre field to spurry. In the fall I 

 plowed the whole field and sowed it to wheat. I could tell to the very drill mark where 

 the spurry was. The wheat was larger arc" 'bicker on the ground. 



As for pasture there is nothing like it. Cattle and sheep will eat it as soon as they 

 will clover. I sowed a small piece last summer for sheep pasture, and when it got up 

 five or six inches high I turned the sheep into it. They ate it as close to the ground as 

 they could. Last June I sowed five acres with turnips and spurry, and the spurry 

 smothered the turnips out and I got a fair crop of it. In August I cut about four acres 

 for seed. The second or self sown crop came on and was as large as the first. This 

 winter I threshed out what I had, and there were thirty bushels of good seed from the 

 four acres. The sheep ate the straw as well as they did the best hay. 



Truly yours, ' 



W. F. Brink. 



Grayling, Jan. 30, 1893. 



Prks. O. Clute, Director of Experiment Station, Agricultural College, Mich. : 



Dear Sir — I, will give you my experience and opinion in regard to growing spurry. 

 Opinions certainly have more weight when based upon experience. The land that I 

 sowed to spurry last year was so-called "pine barrens," or plains, rather better than the 

 average. On it I had raised crops as follows: wheat, millet, oats, part potatoes and 

 part peas, part corn and part millet — making in all five crops, leaving the soil in an 

 impoverished condition. I plowed just five acres, dragged it with a flat drag, then 

 sowed .■^ix pounds of seed per acre. I dragged once and then raked both ways with a 

 horse rake, finishing June 15 at noon. I w'as suprised to find the young plants all up 

 on the 18th of June at noon. .August 18 the crop was ready to harvest. It stood 

 about one foot high. I have made no estimate as to the amount per acre. One-half 

 ton per acre would have been a good crop for that soil. There was certainly more than 

 that. I did not see the field again until four weeks after cutting, when one day I was 

 surprised at the green appearance of the stubble. Upon examination I found a volun- 



