1022 



Spurrey as a Forage Crop. [march, 



-i 



a small extent in France. According to Belgian statistics 

 the ordinary variety yields from about 2 to 9 tons of green 

 forage per acre. Over an average of ten years the yield was 

 more than 5 tons per acre. In 1866 8,645 acres were grown 

 in Belgium, and the acreage had risen to 59,200 in 1880.* 

 When used as a fodder crop successive sowings are made. 

 Cattle eat spurrey green or dried, but horses do not seem to 

 care for it. Spurrey is held to have a good influence on the 

 quality of butter. In France it is regarded as particularly 

 useful for ploughing in as green manure, or for forage at the 

 end of a season of scarcity. For this purpose sowing may 

 take place in July and August, and even early in September, 

 about 22 lb. of seed per acre being sown. 



In the Monographie Agricole de la Region de la Campine, 

 issued in 1899 by the Belgian Ministere de 1' Agriculture., 

 spurrey is included as a matter of course among cultivated 

 crops. It is stated that spurrey is an important plant in the 

 Campine country, where the keeping of cattle for butter is 

 the dominating consideration of the farmer. It furnishes an 

 excellent fodder much relished by cattle, and favourably 

 inducing milk secretion. Butter made from the milk of cows 

 fed on this plant is termed "beurre de spergule," and is 

 sought after as being of superior taste, aroma and good 

 quality. Spurrey is well suited to the poor soils of the 

 Campine, though it does better on richer soils. Two kinds 

 are sown, the ordinary species and the Giant Spurrey. The 

 latter is not widely distributed, but is more vigorous and pro- 

 ductive and attains two or three times the height of the 

 former. It is for this reason that it requires a soil better 

 provided with plant food than in the case of the ordinary 

 spurrey, which does well on poor soils. In trials at Limburg 

 the giant variety yielded twice and even three times as much 

 forage as the ordinary kind, but required 8 to 10 weeks for 

 its complete development compared with 6 to 8 weeks for the 

 latter kind. From the point of view of nutritive value, how- 

 ever, the ordinary kind is superior. On soils of medium 

 quality it is recommended that the two kinds should be sown 

 as a mixture. The crop is harvested by mowing or by pull- 



* According to the Agricultural Statistics, 1910, Part IV., 59,485 acres were 

 grown as a second crop in 1909, and 62,417 acres in 1908, the produce being 

 337,000 tons and 320,000 tons respectively. 



