Setvage- Farming. 
389 
The following' figures express tlie detailed composition of 
prickly comfrey in its natural state, and dried at 212^^ Fatr. : — 
Calculated Dry. 
In Natural State, 
AVatcr 90-66 
Oil ami chloropLyll '20 
"Soluble albuminous compounds I'lO 
tlnsolublc albuminous or nitrogenous compounds 1'62 
Gum, mucila.uc, and a little sugar 1-28 
Woody fibre (cellulose) 3 '30 
Mineral saline matters, soluble in water .. .. 1*25 
Mineral matters, insoluble in water "59 
100-00 
* Containing nitrogen 
t Containing uitrogea 
•175 
•259 
2-20 
11-81 
17-31 
13-65 
35-43 
13-32 
G-28 
100-00 
1- S8 
2- 78 
The juice of this plant is very mucilaginous, though it contains 
but little sugar. 
The preceding figures show that, notwithstanding the large 
amount of water, the proportion of albuminous compounds (flesh- 
forming matters) in comfrey is considerable, and that the per- 
centage of cellular fibre is not larger than in similar green food. 
In comparison with other similar food, I may state that comfrey 
has about the same feeding value as green mustard, or mangold, 
or turnip-tops, or Italian rye-grass grown on irrigated land. 
All such watery food is very useful to dairy-farmers, especially 
if they sell their milk, and do not make it into butter or cheese, 
for succulent green food, as is well known, gives abundant though 
rather poor milk. 
The cultivation of prickly comfrey requires but little care. 
The plant is quick growing and perfectly hardy, and it may, 
therefore, be worth the trouble of dairymen to grow it and to 
give it to their cows as a change of food. 
Laboratory, 11, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, B.C., 
July, 1871. 
XVI. — Sewage-Farming. By Herbert J. Little, of Thorpe- 
lands, Northampton. 
It is scarcely thirty years since an eminent pioneer of agri- 
cultural progress — whose name has, during all the interval 
which has elapsed, been kept before the public in connection 
with the subject of this paper — incurred the taunt of being 
" a very nasty fellow " for insisting upon the importance of 
utilising our sewage, instead of allowing it to pollute our rivers, 
and endanger the public health, while we wasted our resources 
