20 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
ed, could not survive. One reason for culti¬ 
vating the plant was that we might have ma¬ 
terials from which to make a drawing, as we 
were sure that the engraving above referred to 
could not be accurate. While we 
were working up the matter, by a 
singular coincidence our associate, 
Col. Waring, was, unknown to us, 
experimenting with the same plant, 
and in his Ogden Farm Paper in¬ 
tended for December, surprised us by 
“stealing our thunder.” What he 
said about the Comfrey was withheld 
until an engraving should be ready, 
and with a description appear with 
his account of its uses. Knowing 
that our friend, Thomas Meehan, had 
the plant at his most comprehensive 
nursery at Germantown, Pa., we ob¬ 
tained a specimen from him, and with 
the aid of this and an accurate color¬ 
ed plate just received from England, 
the engraving here given was made. 
The botanical name of the plant is 
Symphytum asperrimum ,which readi¬ 
ly translates into very rough, or 
“ Prickly Comfrey.” Symphytum is 
from a Greek word meaning to grow 
together, as the common garden Com¬ 
frey had formerly a reputation for 
healing qualities, a notion which the 
common name Comfrey also con¬ 
veys, that being from the Latin con- 
fir mo, to strengthen. We may add 
that the root has no marked proper¬ 
ties, being simply mucilaginous and 
slightly astringent, and like many 
other plants formerly of high repute, 
owed its reputation chiefly to its 
harmless qualities; these did not pre¬ 
vent a recovery which was, of course, 
attributed to the medicine, while it 
took place in spite of it. The Prickly 
Comfrey is a native of the Caucasian 
mountains, where it grows at alti¬ 
tudes varying from 1,800 to 6,000 
feet. It is a perennial, with a very 
large thick and branching root. It pro¬ 
duces a large cluster of long petioled 
leaves, which are 18 inches long, the petiole, 
or leaf-stalk, being 12 inches long; the lower 
part of the blade of the leaf is either round¬ 
ed or wedge-shaped, and on its lower sur- 
and hairy. The flower-stalk has its upper 
leaves sessile, or without any leaf-stalk, and 
flowers, somewhat smaller than in the garden 
Comfrey, of a blueish purple. The plant is 
readily multiplied by division, taking care to 
secure a bud with each portion of root, or it 
may be propagated from cuttings of the roots. 
Col. Waring (see “ Ogden Farm Papers ”) cau¬ 
tiously states the claims made for this plant 
abroad, and gives some points from his own 
after many experiments to find a fodder-plant 
suited to thb country, thinks that he has found, 
in this Comfrey “something worth having.’ r 
He writes: “ I do not find its virtues very much. 
exaggerated in the published ac¬ 
counts ; on the contrary, I am sure 
that the yield the first year, which is. 
put down at 20 tons, is considerably 
understated.” The following de¬ 
tached sentences from several letters 
are in response to our questions, the 
nature of which will be implied by 
these answers: “ It may be cut six 
times a year, at least. I have cut 
some plants eight times the first year, 
and grazed them with cows and. 
horses besides.”_“ It is perfectly 
easy to cut the plants with a sickle, 
or any other kind of a cutting knife.” 
-“The leaves of the Symphytum 
can be stacked green (or partially 
dried), with a little salt between the 
layers, and will keep well through the 
winter.”.... “ I have not tried to raise 
any plants from the seed, as I have 
invariably cut the stems as soon as 
they showed any signs of flowers; 
the leaves grow much more vigor¬ 
ously if you do so.”....“ The plants 
do not grow to their largest size un¬ 
til the second year.”... .He further 
adds: “ There have been several 
severe frosts lately (Nov. 16th), but 
in no instance has the smallest dam¬ 
age been done to my plants, old or 
young. I have many thousands now 
just out of the ground, but so far 
frost has not touched them. I am 
still feeding my cows, horses, and 
pigs, on the Comfrey, which is grow¬ 
ing every day. * * * I am so well 
satisfied with the plant that I am 
planting largely, and am quite sure 
that it cannot fail to come into gen¬ 
eral use in the Southern States, where 
fodder is scarce.”—We may add to 
this interesting home testimony, that 
of M. J. A. Barral, one of the most prominent 
agricultural writers of France, and Secretary of 
the Central Society of Agriculture. In the Jour¬ 
nal of that Society for Oct. last, he states as his 
experience with the Caucasian Prickly Comfrey: 
“ The animals thrive well upon it, and that in 
prickly comfrey.—( Symphytum asperrimum.) 
Fig. 5, 
face, on the mid-rib and veins, are roughish 
bristly hairs, which suggested the specific name; 
the leaves, when young, are often quite woolly 
THE EFFECT OF BLASTING THE STUMP.— {Seepage 19.) 
experience. Since his article came to hand, we 
have had some correspondence with Mr. C. E. 
Ashburner, Edinglassie, Richmond, Ya., who. 
Fig. 7.— the rock after blasting.— {Seepage 19.) 
the green state it contains 4 per cent of nitrogen 
and is equal in richness to green maize. The 
total of nitrogenous substances is about one- 
