588 



SPURRY 



SUGAR-BEET 



the Old World. Only two species have been culti- 

 vated, one of which is the common or sand spurry 

 (Spergula arvensis) 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 

 to twelve bushels or more per 

 acre, and it is largely owing 

 to its enormous seed produc- 

 tion that it becomes trouble- 

 some. 



Spurry has been largely 

 tested 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 substance per acre. 



It is hardly worth while to experiment with 

 spurry, except as a catch-crop, on other than loose 

 sandy soils. The seed should be sown at the rate of 

 six to eight quarts per acre and lightly covered 

 with a harrow when grown for hay or pasture or 

 for green-manure. About half this quantity of seed 

 is required when the crop is raised for seed. It is 

 most commonly planted in early spring, but in 

 Germany it is also planted in early fall on grain 

 stubble. It is somewhat drought-resistant. A good 

 seed-bed should be prepared, as for clover. Germi- 

 nation takes place quickly, and in two months the 

 crop will have ripened seed. It may be cut for hay 



Fig. 816. Spurry 

 (Spergula arvenais). 



at the end of six weeks from sowing, and may be 

 pastured as early as one month from sowing. If 

 the crop is allowed to stand until the seed is fully 

 ripe, enough seed will shatter to ensure a succeed- 

 ing crop. 



Literature. 



Bulletin No. 91, Michigan Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station ; Bulletin No. 2, Division of Agros- 

 tology, United States Department of Agriculture ; 

 Handbook of Experiment Station Work ; Schmidlen- 

 Schuler, Putter and Wiesen Krauter. (Illustrations 

 are given in the first and last mentioned citations.) 



SUGAR-BEET. Beta vulgaris, Moq. Chenopodir 

 acece. Figs. 817-825. 

 By C. 0. Townsend. 



The sugar-beet is a " root crop," grown chiefly 

 for the manufacture of sugar from the roots, and for 

 stock-feeding. It is one of the small-growing varie- 

 ties of Beta vulgaris, with medium tops. The roots 

 are small to medium, usually fusiform, smooth and 

 nearly always yellowish or whitish. Other forms 

 of beet-root are mangels [see article on Boot Crops], 

 garden beets, chard and ornamental-leaved beets. 

 All of them, probably, are developed from the wild 

 Beta maritima of the coasts in Europe. 



History. 



Both the red and the white beet were known at 

 least three centuries before the Christian era, but 

 it is only within comparatively recent times that 

 any variety of beet has been recognized as a sugar- 

 producing plant. About the middle of the eight- 

 eenth century, Marggraff, a member of the Berlin 

 Academy of Sciences, succeeded in separating sugar 

 from a large number of plants, including beets. 

 He found more sugar in the beet than in any other 

 plant which he investigated, and at once advocated 

 the manufacture of sugar from the beet root on a 

 commercial scale. Nothing was done, however, 

 until a half -century later, when Achard, a former 

 pupil of Marggraff, took up the investigation and 

 modified and cheapened the process of extracting 

 the sugar. As a result of Achard's investigations, 

 much interest in producing sugar from beets was 

 awakened throughout the civilized world, so that, 

 at the beginning of the nineteenth century, we find 

 a large number of investigators endeavoring not 

 only to improve the methods of extraction and 

 purification of sugar from beets but also by selec- 

 tion and cultivation to improve the beet itself both 

 in size and in quality. This interest was further 

 stimulated and encouraged by governmental aid, 

 especially in France, and by prizes offered by nu- 

 merous scientific and industrial societies in vari- 

 ous countries, with the result that as early as 1812 

 beet-root sugar was offered for sale in commercial 

 quantities, about thirteen tons being placed on the 

 market at that time. From this small beginning 

 the beet-sugar industry has advanced in spite of 

 many difficulties, until the beet-sugar factories now 

 in operation throughout the civilized world number 

 more than 1,300, and the total quantity of sugar 



