I'Kli K I . > t'OMFHKJ VS \ b'OKACil CHOP. '.I 
cuttings each your, while many kills were killed out entirely l>y the 
disease. When planted on a thin soil with a Hard clay subsoil, 
the third growth withered up during the period of drought and the 
plants remained dormant until the following spring. 
EFFECT OF PRICKLY COMFREY ON THE SOIL. 
The soil in an <>ld eomfrey field is usually left in mdition, 
owing i" frequent cultivations and to the top-dressings of barnyard 
manure. The large, fleshy roots of the eomfrey also penetrate to a 
considerable depth and add humus to the subsoil, where it is usually 
wanting. Analyses of the materials removed from the soil, however, 
show that were n not for the constant application of fertilizing 
material the growing of eomfrey would be decidedly injurious to the 
soil. Assuming 20 tons of green material to the acre as an average 
crop of eomfrey, there would be removed from the soil 165 pounds 
of nitrogen, 65 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 74 pounds of potash. 
From the present knowledge of prickly eomfrey, it is advisable 
to experiment with it only on a small scale as a soiling crop. There 
seems little to justify its extended use in a region where alfalfa or 
red clover will succeed. Large yields have nol been obtained without 
heavy applications of fertilizer, and a comparison of prickh eomfrey 
with the forage crops already in use has usually resulted unfavorably 
to the eomfrey. 
Approved : 
James Wilson, 
S\ cretary of Agricultun . 
W vshington, I). ('.. Dea mbi r 10, 1909. 
port, Canada Experimental Fair p. 201 
= 7| 
