18S0.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



18 



tinction from the native wild variety. It was next 

 to be found described as finding a place in Kew 

 Gardens in 1799. From the 3'ear 1808 it was 

 sold in single plants for ornamental purposes. 

 In 1811 it was fully brought out by the Messrs. 

 Loddiges as a shrubbery and border plant. Its 

 bold foliage growing in the shade to a height of 

 five to six feet, coupled with its graceful pend- 

 ant bright blue flowers, readily secured it a place 

 in the mixed shrubs and showy flowering plants 

 in borders where it has ever kept its place, and 

 may 3'et frequently be met with about old places, 

 especially at the sides of the private roads in 

 England. In 1830 it was introduced as a forage 

 plant, and found by many to answer the purpose 

 ■well. The Farmer^s Journal re-printed notices 

 of the plant for the benefit of its subscribers, 

 and at this time there was hardly a garden of 

 any importance that did not possess a plant of 

 Prickley Comfrey. The root of the other species 

 resembled so closely the Caucasian variety that 

 horticulturists sold it to the farmers as comfrey 

 roots, causing disappointment and bringing it 

 into bad repute ; and the result is seen in diSer- 

 ent parts of the country even now. In France 

 also, Avhere it sufl"ered from like causes, the 

 result to-day is a variety of comfrey having a 

 small foliage and a pale indistinct color of 

 flower, sometimes pink, sometimes lilac or cream 

 colored, but never the bright blue of the asperri- 

 mum. This is an important characteristic. They 

 are also devoid of that asperity peculiar to the 

 true kind. The variety asperrimum has a stem 

 almost solid, and full of gum and mucilage, and 

 the more solid the stem is the better it is, on ac- 

 count of producing a greatly increased weight of 

 food per acre, as it branches out more freely, 

 and plants placed three feet each way soon cover 

 the ground with a large quantity of leaves. This 

 plant will grow in sandy or other soils, but likes 

 a clay loam or any good, deep soil best, as the 

 roots will tap down six to eight feet for moisture. 

 The yield ranges from five to ten lbs. to the 

 plant at each cutting, according to soil, as a 

 minimum and maximum, or from 60 to 100 tons 

 an acre per annum ; on good clay soil well en- 

 riched it has been estimated at as high as 120 

 tons per acre. During the last week in Septem- 

 ber, when I was there, they were cutting it for 

 the fifth time, and the average for each cutting 

 was estimated at about twenty tons per acre. 

 The leaves were then from fifteen to eighteen 

 inches long, allowing a cut of nearly fifteen 

 inches, leaving two to three inches at the crown ; 



it is advisable not to cut the leaves any closer 

 than this. The yield in well-established plants 

 is largest if cut just before the flowers open, as 

 the leaf is not then so large, coarse and prickly 

 as if cut later, and almost any stock will take to 

 it more kindly if fed in this state. As it grows 

 well in almost any soils during drought or wet, 

 and can be cut and fed in all weathers with the 

 best eflect on all stock, whether for milk or flesh, 

 it's advantages may be briefly summed up as 

 follows. Great productiveness, quick growth, 

 easy culture, stability in withstanding heat and 

 cold, wet and drought. Its yield of fresh succu- 

 lent leaves never fails to provide through the 

 longest, driest summers a nutritious and palat- 

 able food. If, when cut down, a little rotten 

 dung be put between the rows and lightly stirred 

 in, and then some long manure be spread 

 over the surface to furnish food, and protect the 

 soil from becoming too dry, the duration of 

 this perennial crop would be from fifteen to 

 twenty years without renewal of the plants. 

 There is little doubt when better known, its cul- 

 tivation will be largely increased, as it can be 

 preserved for a winter food, green, by the ensi- 

 lage system ; or it can be dried into hay possess- 

 ing a sweet and agreeable odor if cut when in 

 full blossom, these being profuse and very rich 

 in honey. Cured in either way it has proved an 

 agreeable and nutritious winter food, and de- 

 serves to rank as one of the very best of all 

 known forage plants, if not the best. This is 

 the verdict I find wherever it has been fairly 

 tried, and I trust that I may have awakened 

 some interest here in this matter, and will only 

 add, I have none to sell, having only imported it 

 for our own use in a small way, and have no axe 

 to grind in the matter, my aim and end being 

 only to speak of things as I find them, and give 

 reasons for differences where I can find them in 

 causes. We all know there is no effect without 

 a cause. I may have condensed too much, 

 and not explained enough in detail to suit all, 

 but think I have touched the leading points. 



LEPIDIUM, THE BED BUG DESTROYER. 



BY S. M. 



The world has, after years of experiments, not 

 yet found the antidote or the cure of the phyl- 

 loxera. Has it been more successful with that 

 other pest, the bed bugs, that treacherous race 

 which attacks men, women and children whea 



