MISCELLANEOUS HERBS USED AS FORAGE 581 



with other forage crops. At the Wisconsin Experiment 

 Station the yield of dry matter to the acre for red clover 

 was 23 per cent greater than that of comfrey. At the New 

 York Experiment Station alfalfa yielded 16 tons of green 

 matter as compared to 14 tons by prickly comfrey. At 

 the Pennsylvania Experiment Station the yield of diges- 

 tible matter by prickly comfrey was considerably less than 

 that produced by either Kafir corn or cowpeas. 



The value of prickly comfrey would seem to be restricted 

 entirely to that of a soilage crop where a large amount of 

 green matter is to be grown on a limited acreage, but even 

 in this respect it is surpassed by other crops. As a silage 

 crop it has been used somewhat, but the product is said 

 to be disagreeable in odor. Animals are somewhat averse 

 to eating comfrey at first, either green or preserved, but 

 soon acquire a taste for it. 



696. Australian saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata) . This 

 plant is native to alkali lands in Australia, where it has 

 long been recognized as a valuable natural forage for sheep. 

 It was introduced into the United States in the hope that 

 it would be profitable as a crop to grow on lands too alka- 

 line for ordinary crops. This hope, however, has not been 

 realized, and about all that is cultivated are a few fields 

 to supply the small demand for seed which still persists 

 from the advertising the plant received. In southern 

 California the Australian saltbush has become naturalized 

 and moderately aggressive in a few places, but elsewhere 

 it has not shown this trait. 



After Atriplex semibaccata was introduced, many other 

 species from Australia and South Africa were tested. 

 Many of them grow well and some are quite ornamental, 

 but none of them has come into use as a crop. 



On the whole, the introduced species of Atriplex are 



