SPURREY. 
but has generally been found a failure. Young 
furze is suitable enough on some store farms, for 
sheep of very hardy constitution ; but is of very 
limited value in other circumstances. The win- 
ter tare is eminently useful, and affords a very 
great bulk of nourishment ; but is rather a sum- 
mer than a spring crop. A series of forage crops 
suitable alike for green food and for hay is of the 
highest consequence; but belongs rather to the 
system of soiling than to the simple provision of 
spring-feed. Some forage plants, as white mus- 
tard, make excellent feed for sheep, but are not 
equally suitable, or even not suitable at all, for 
cattle. Altogether, the best plants as yet tried 
for spring-feed are the luxuriant varieties of rye. 
See the articles Ryr, Sorzine, and Frepine or 
ANIMALS. 
SPRING GRASS. See AnrHoxantHuM. 
SPRING WHEAT. See WuHeEat. 
SPRIT. See Rusu. 
SPROUT-HILL. See Anr. 
SPRUCE. See Fir. 
SPUR. See Ereor. 
SPURGEH. See Eupnorsta. 
SPURGE LAUREL. See Lauren (Spurer). 
_ SPURGE OLIVE. See Muzerzon. 
SPURLESS VIOLET. See Viorer (Spurtszss.) 
SPURREY,—botanically Spergula. A genus 
of herbaceous plants, of the carnation family. 
The calyx is five-segmented ; the petals are en- 
tire and amount to five; and the seed-vessel is 
ovate, five-valved, one-celled, and many-seeded. 
Five species grow wild in Britain; several have 
been introduced from other countries; and a 
number more are known, 
The common spurrey, or yarr, or pickpurse, 
Spergula arvensis, is an annual weed of the sandy 
corn-fields of Britain. Its stems are lax, spread- 
ing, jointed, angular, leafy, moderately branched, 
hairy and viscid in the upper part, and from 6 
to 15 inches high; its leaves are whorled, subu- 
late, narrow, obtuse, fleshy, and downy, and have 
short stipules; its floral footstalks are slender 
and downy, and become reflexed toward the 
period of the seed ripening ; its flowers are white, 
and bloom from June till August; and its seeds 
are somewhat kidney-shaped, angular, rough, 
and of a black colour. This plant abounds on 
inferior light soils, which have been too finely 
tilled ; and it is greedily eaten by all sheep and cat- 
tle, and appears to be very nutritious and whole- 
some, and is said to improve the mutton of sheep 
and the milk and butter of cows. Two very 
distinct varieties of it are much cultivated in 
Germany and Flanders as late pasture for sheep 
and cattle,—the one with large smooth seeds, 
called S. a. sativa,—and the other with a some- 
what freely branching habit, called S. a. ramosa. 
The herbage continues green till a late period in 
autumn, and often throughout the winter; and 
it can either be used as pasture or cut for soiling 
or made into hay. The seeds also afford by ex- 
pression a good lamp oil, and may be ground 
SQUILL. 317 
into flour which, when mixed with the flour of 
wheat or rye, is suitable for bread, and is often 
employed for that purpose in Gothland and Nor- 
way. Poultry eat spurrey in any form, and are 
thought to become very prolific of eggs when fed 
upon it. Von Thaer speaks of it as an eminently 
nutritious herbage; and not a few Continental 
agriculturists seem to think it an excellent crop. 
Notwithstanding all its recommendations, how- 
ever, it does not appear to merit cultivation in 
Britain. We possess much more profitable plants 
for all the soils and situations which it would 
suit; and we have sometimes a great deal more 
than enough of itself in the unwelcome form of a 
weed. 
The pentandrous spurrey, Spergula pentandra, 
is an annual weed of the sandy fields of some 
parts of England; and it has a height of 6 or 8 
inches, and carries white flowers in June and 
July.—The knotty spurrey, and the awl-shaped 
spurrey, Spergula nodosa and Spergula subulata, 
are perennial weeds of the sandy heaths of Bri- 
tain ; they have a height of 6 or 8 inches, and 
carry white flowers in the latter part of summer. 
—The sagina-like spurrey, Spergula saginotdes, is 
‘a perennial-rooted, creeping indigen of some of the 
lofty mountains of Scotland; and it carries white 
flowers from June till August.—Two of the in- 
troduced species,—the pale, Spergula pallida, a 
reddish flowered evergreen herb, from the Cape 
of Good Hope, and the larix-like, Spergula lari- 
cina, a white-flowered, tiny trailer, from Siberia 
—have an ornamental character, and deserve a 
place in the flower-border. 
SQUASH. The melon - pumpkin, — Cucurbita 
melopepo. See the article Gourp. 
SQUEAKER. A pigeon under six months of 
age. 
SQUILL,—botanically Scilla. A genus of or- 
namental, bulbous-rooted plants, of the asphodel 
family. Four species grow wild in Britain ; up- 
wards of twenty have been introduced from other 
countries; and some more are known. They 
have radical and somewhat linear leaves; and 
carry their flowers in clusters, on the top of 
solitary naked flower-stalks; and look, in many 
instances, like miniature hyacinths; and have, 
in general, a very pretty appearance. Most have 
either blue or red or pink or white flowers ; the 
great majority love a light soil, either of peaty 
loam or of sandy loam; and all are readily pro- 
pagated from offsets. 
The undescribed squill, or wild hyacinth, or 
harebell, Sczla non-scripta, abounds in the woods 
and groves and streamlet banks of many parts of 
Britain; and is one of the most beautiful of our 
wild flowers; and also holds a conspicuous place 
in many a flower border. Its flower-stem has 
commonly a height of about 8 or 9 inches; and 
its flowers are blue, and bloom from March till 
June. One variety of it, S. ”. alba, has white 
flowers; and another, S. ». carnea, has flesh- 
coloured flowers. Its bulb, in common with that 
