72 
Keport of the First Assistant of the 
Hungarian grass. At the present time this station has about two 
acres of ground devoted to Alfalfa, and, although it may be fairly 
stated that the seed is expensive, and large vegetations not certain 
after sowing, the five years' experience, as grown here, certainly indi- 
cates, if not proves, that Alfalfa will thrive and do well in this climate, 
and where good seedings are secured will yield a large, valuable crop, 
especially during dry weather. 
Prickly Comfrey. 
At Clifton Springs, N. Y., Dr. Henry Foster maintains a very large 
dairy farm. For several years he has grown prickly comfrey and fed 
it to his cattle in large quantity. At the time when I made my visit 
to his farm, sixty head of Holstein-Frisian grades were receiving two 
feedings a day of this fodder, in addition to two other feedings of 
corn ensilage. Dr. Foster assured me that his cows preferred this 
plant to any other green fodder he could supply them with. Very 
generally speaking, this plant has not been successfully used as fod- 
der in America, yet there was a case in which a practical feeder used 
this plant largely as the most economical and desirable fodder present. 
Securing settings from Dr. Foster on April 30, about one-twentieth 
of an acre of heavy clay-loam was planted in rows three feet apart, 
with roots one foot apart, in half of the rows, and two feet apart in 
the others. Although the weather was very dry for the month of 
May, the plants came on and grew at a remarkable rate, so that in less 
than four weeks a portion of the plants had to be cut back, owing to 
the plants coming to flowering. On June 6 some of the plants were a 
foot high, and at that time all were cut back to within three or four 
leaf buds from the ground. By July 11 the plants had grown to such 
an extent as to furnish a large yield of foliage, so that it was cut and 
offered to six cows. The comfrey was first placed in the mangers; it 
was scarcely touched. Corn meal was then sprinkled upon it, and 
while the cows ate the fodder better, they rather preferred to brush 
off the meal and lick it from the bottom of the mangers. Water was 
then sprinkled upon the plants, and meal dusted over them, but the 
cows still refused to eat to any extent. As a last resource, salt was 
scattered over the mangers, and the animals were thus induced to eat 
the fodder. Of the six cows, four evinced no special liking for it, 
while two apparently ate it with great relish. After eating all the 
comfrey in their mangers they were fed that left by the other cows, 
which they greedily ate. Later, the balance of the comfrey was fed 
to these two cows, of which they ate every leaf unprepared in any 
way. On September 27 the plants were again cut back, and the tod- 
