OHAP. a. PRICKLY COMFREY. 941 



cultivated in Flanders, where it is sown immediately after wheat, by 

 one ploughing of the stubble, and soon affords a tolerable pasture for 

 cows; but it is said to communicate an unpleasant flavour to the 

 butter. Most farmers regard it as little better than a weed, but it has 

 been cultivated upon light sandy soils for conversion into silage. 



CHICORY (Cichorium Intybus, nat. ord. Compositse), also called 

 Common Wild Succory, is a perennial plant, indigenous in this 

 country. It grows on most soils of a loamy description, and even on 

 some of the more light and brashy sorts of land. Almost every poor 

 soil not too retentive of moisture will carry it ; and it is very hardy, 

 standing the severest cold. Its broad leaves cover the ground and 

 shelter it, while its roots strike deep into the soil, and loosen it. 

 Chicory is useful early in the spring, and may be cut for forage several 

 times in the year. Some have recommended that it should be sown 

 with other plants ; but the manner in which it grows like a lettuce 

 points to a different and more suitable mode of cultivation, namely, 

 by itself, and in rows. 



The best seed is that which is obtained by the farmer from his own 

 plants, and, as they produce seed in great abundance, it may be easily 

 collected by hand. The mode of sowing varies according to the object 

 for which it is grown. Thus, for feeding cattle, it is usually sown in 

 conjunction with oats, or other spring corn, at the season the latter is 

 put in the ground ; but for soiling it is sown alone, from the second or 

 third week in March until the close of summer the earlier the better, 

 on account of its hardy nature. The quantity usually sown is about 

 10 Ib. per acre ; it will grow on any soil, but the crop is uncertain. 

 As a forage plant it is best to grow it alone, not with other plants. 

 Chicory is much cultivated on the Continent both as a forage and as 

 a salad plant. 



For the first year one or two cuttings or mowings will be sufficient. 

 These may, in subsequent seasons, be repeated three or even four 

 times, beginning in April or May, and cutting every second month till 

 October. 



PRICKLY COMFREY (Symphytum asperrimum, nat. ord. Boragineae) 

 is a Caucasian plant, allied to the common comfrey, a coarse hispid herb 

 that grows beside English streams, and used to be boiled and eaten by 

 cottagers. Prickly Comfrey attains a height of 4 to 5 feet, it has very 

 rough coarse leaves, and its flowers are dull white, reddish, or blue. 

 In England it is raised exclusively from roots, the sets costing about 

 5s. per 100. It is of such rapid growth as to permit of cutting for 

 fodder four times in a season. It has about the same feeding value as 

 green mustard or turnip-tops, and it affords a change of food for cattle. 

 Being a deep-rooted plant it withstands drought. Enormous yields, 

 up to 80 tons per acre per annum, have been recorded. As the plant 

 is perennial, its cultivation requires but little care after the sets are 

 once established. Cattle, sheep, and especially horses, although they 

 prefer other food, soon acquire a taste for it in the green state. Before 

 feeding, it should be allowed twelve hours to wither and soften. When 

 dried it affords a substitute for hay to mix with straw for chaff-cutting. 



