MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS. 233 



market under the name of "giant spurry" is simply 

 the ordinary spurry. It is not capable of making a 

 stronger growth than ordinary spurry, as the name 

 would indicate. The stems of spurry are numerous 

 and exceedingly branched. They are fine in char- 

 acter, and they so interlace as to make it difficult to 

 walk through the crop in an advanced stage of 

 growth without tripping. The flowers are very 

 many, are not more than one-eighth of an inch in 

 diameter and are white in color. The seeds are 

 small. They are contained in small seed heads 

 resembling those of flax, but not more than half as 

 large. They vary from dark brown to black in 

 color. The plants seed profusely. On some soils 

 the yield of fodder has been estimated as equal to 

 that of clover, but ordinarily it would not be 

 so much. 



The plant has special adaptation for light, 

 sandy soils, and for climates that are moist. 

 Whether it will be given a place of much prominence 

 in our agriculture has yet to be determined. On 

 productive soils it is not likely to come into general 

 favor, since other plants equally nutritious will give 

 greater yields. But on light, sandy soils low in fer- 

 tility, it should render valuable service where mois- 

 ture is sufficiently abundant. But few of the agri- 

 cultural experiment station reports even mention 

 spurry, hence testimony regarding its adaptation to 

 our conditions is almost entirely wanting. It has 

 been grown, however, on the light and infertile 

 sands of the experiment sub-station at Grayling, 

 Michigan, since 1888, and the reports concerning it 

 are encouraging. When plowed under in the green 

 form it has been found specially helpful in giving 



