PRICKLY COMFREY. AS A FORAGE CROP. 
Fat 
Crude fiber 
X i t rogen-Iree extra 
Protein 
Total digestible matter 
Total green matter. . . . 
Prickly 
eomfrey. 
Pounds. 
30.5 
35.3 
623. l 
221.0 
909.9 
1G, 500.0 
Kafir corn. Cowpeas. 
Pounds. 
34.2 
33.2 
' 907.8 
119.4 
1.094. 
1 1 . 000. 
Pounds. 
53. 9 
247. 
090. 
280.9 
1,271.8 
14.500.0 
These figures indicate that although the yield of green matter is 
greater in prickly eomfrey, the real food value is likely to be less than 
that of the commonly grown forage crops. 
COMPARISON OF PRICKLY COMFREY AND RED CLOVER. 
At the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station " equal areas of 
red clover and eomfrey were planted in 1887. The eomfrey was top- 
dressed heavily with stable manure. Yields of both were determined 
the second year, the cuttings being made with a scythe. The red 
clover returned 26 tons of green feed to the acre in three cuttings, 
and the eomfrey 33J tons. Samples were taken of the cuttings of 
both crops and the dry matter determined. The red clover pro- 
duced 23 per cent more of total dry matter and 25 per cent more 
protein in three cuttings than the eomfrey did in four. A more 
important difference between the two crops is in the lesser cost of 
planting and harvesting the red clover and its greater palatability to 
stock. It would seem that prickly eomfrey can not compete with 
red clover as a forage crop for the general farmer. 
COMPARISON OF PRICKLY COMFREY AND ENSILAGE CORN. 
In Michigan b eomfrey was grown side by side with ensilage coin, 
and the trials "taught emphatically that in the soil and climate 
existing at the Michigan station corn is far superior as a forage crop 
i o eomfrey." 
COMPARISON OF PRICKLY COMFREY AND ALFALFA. 
The older planting of eomfrey at the New York Agricultural 
Experiment Station during 1889 gave a yield of 14 tons of green 
matter per acre. Alfalfa during the same period yielded more than 
1() tons of green matter per acre. 
DISEASES OF PRICKLY COMFREY AND INSECT ENEMIES. 
Comfrey has been grown at the North Carolina Agricultural Experi- 
ment Stal ion since L899. c It grew well hut was injured by both cater- 
pillars and a fungous disease, which reduced the crop to two Or three 
a Report, Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, L889, pp. 207 and 211. 
& Bulletin 47, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, pp. 43 and 44. 
o Bulletin 7:!. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, p. •">!>. 
[Cir. 47] 
