OTHER FORAGE PLANTS— PRICKLY COMFREY. 119 



been obtained by good management. We recommend 

 Prickly Comfrey especially for small occupations, as 

 few crops can be more easily grown or prove so useful 

 to those whose live stock consists of a horse, cow, and a 

 few pigs. 



Mr. Phillips, a recognised authority on Comfrey, says: 

 — It may be planted all the year round, excepting when 

 the ground is frost-bound. The sets planted early in 

 autumn almost save a season, as they become somewhat 

 established before winter, and form crowns for the nexf» 

 season ; those planted in spring and summer rush into 

 immediate productiveness. All kinds of land suit Com- 

 frey, but it thrives best in rich moist loam, with plenty 

 of manure, especially liquid manure ; it loves warmth 

 and moisture. Dig or plough the land to a fair depth 

 (if double-dug or subsoiled all the better), working in 

 a heavy dressing of manure. If you give Comfrey a 

 double dressing of manure you will have a double crop, 

 and only one rent to pay ; on poor land, where manure 

 is scarce, you will get a greater crop of Comfrey than of 

 anything else you can grow ; and when once planted 

 it is there for ever, only requiring a heavy dressing of 

 manure to be dug in every season. As one or two Com- 

 frey-growers seem to have had a little difficulty in 

 getting their stock to eat it, it may be well to state 

 that, in feeding it to stock for the first time, only a little 

 should be given, and not that till it has been allowed to 

 stand for a few hours after cutting, so as to allow the 

 prickles on the under surface of the leaves and along 

 the stalks to wither slightly ; or the young leaves only 

 may be given at first. 



Sets can be obtained for los.per thousand. About 5000 

 sets will plant an acre if planted a yard apart each way. 



