286 Spurrey — an Annual Grass. 



It grows luxuriantly on exhausted, worn out sandy soils, 

 where no other grass will vegetate. It ripens in two months 

 from sowing, of course will grow three successive crops in a 

 season. When the ground is prepared it should be sown like 

 clover — ten or twelve pounds of seed to an acre. 



It is very succulent, and all grazing animals are exceed- 

 ingly fond of it and eat it with avidity. Cows fed on spurrey 

 are said to yield one third more milk and make one third 

 more butter, and of very superior quality. For soiling, spurrey 

 may be sown, we think, early in May, and turned under 

 when the seeds begin to fall from the lower tendrils in July; 

 again in September ; and the third turning as late as possible 

 before frost, if a good crop is looked for in the spring. For 

 seed it should be cut just before or as soon as the seeds begin 

 to drop ; and when carefully and sufficiently dried it should 

 be thoroughly thrashed and will yield from ten to twenty- 

 five pounds of seed per acre. It is said to be superior to clover 

 for soiling and unsurpassed as green fodder for the dairy, 

 especially the latter part of the season when other feed fails. 



Though spurrey is an annual grass, its seeds will survive 

 the winter if turned under late in the fall. Spurrey grows 

 about ten or twelve inches in height, and when fully grown, 

 it covers the ground like a mat. 



Little or nothing is known of this extraordinary grass in 

 this coimtry, and the remarks above are given from some 

 experiments of the last year and this only. 



Springfield^ Mass., June, 1846. 



Spurrey is the Spergula arvensis L. of botanists, a native 

 of Britain and northern parts of Europe, where it is consid- 

 ered as a weed, unless especially cultivated. As a forage 

 plant, it is highly valued on the continent, and Von Thaer, 

 the celebrated writer on agriculture, considers it a most nutri- 

 tive herb. In the Farmer^ s Dictionary, reviewed in a late 

 number (p. 221,) is a short account of this plant; it is there 

 stated, that "its growth is so rapid that in five or six weeks 

 it acquires its full height, which seldom exceeds twelve or 

 fourteen inches. The crop is of course a light one, but is 

 considered of great value, both as supplying a certain quan- 

 tity of provender, at very little cost, and as being the best 



