WscdUmeous Feeding Stuffs. 217 



quite favorably on this plant for light, sandy land. Stockmen 

 who can grow crops of red clover and corn have no use for spurry. 



330. Sugar-beet leaves. — In the vicinity of beet-sugar factories 

 leaves from the beet are available in large quantities. Because 

 of oxalic acid in the leaves, they can be fed to stock only in limited 

 quantity without injurious effects. In Europe beet leaves are 

 preserved by buUding them up in layers, and sprinkling lime over 

 each layer for the purpose of neutralizing the oxalic acid. The 

 heaps thus made are covered with earth and held until required 

 for feeding. 



331. Pusnpkin. — Grown as a main crop or even as a secondary 

 one in the corn field, the pumpkin vine often yields large returns 

 at small cost for production. A tract of well-prepared land 

 devoted exclusively to this vegetable will pay well under good 

 management. For dairy cows the pumpkin is an excellent fall 

 feed, none being more highly relished; for swine in the first stages 

 of fattening they are useful either fresh or cooked with meal. 



There is a tradition among farmers that pumpkin seeds increase 

 the excretion from the kidneys and should be removed before feed- 

 ing. In the dispensatory the pumpkin seed is given as a vermi- 

 fuge, with no reference to any other property. Since the seeds 

 contain nutriment they should not be wasted. 



332. Prickly comfrey. — Prom time to time we find this plant 

 highly praised in the agricultural press for its forage properties. 

 At the Wisconsin Station ^ a comfrey plat was found to require 

 about the same cultivation as the same area planted to potatoes. 

 "WoU, comparing the returns from this plat, when well established, 

 with an adjacent area of red clover seeded the year before, found 

 that the red clover in three cuttings yielded twenty-three per 

 cent, more dry matter and twenty-five per cent, more protein 

 than did the comfrey. Cattle generally will not eat this plant 

 when first offered to them, but soon overcome the objection. Gen- 

 erally the stockman would better give his attention to red clover, 

 alfalfa or corn than attempt to use comfrey. 



333. Cactus. — In times of scarcity several species of cactus in 

 western Texas are used for maintaining cattle and sheep. The 



1 Rept. 1889. 



