The Progress., 1892-09-03
PRICklY COMFREY.
An Intensive Dairyman Who Finds I
His Best Crop for Cows.

An Intensive Dairyman Who Finds II
His Best Crop for Cows.
The area required for June pasture
had been the weak point in intensive
dairying with me, but by the adoption
OF prickly comfrey, so as to bridge over
the time from the usual turning out to
grass up to haying, great and sure sup
ply of the best fodder is obtained, and a
small run at pasture for air and exer-
else only Is required. Planted in rows
three feet apart, sixteen inches apart in
the rows, top dressed literally and well
cultivated in the spring, prickly COM
frey by the last of May will grow waist
high and too thick to allow one to pass
through it readily. In a moist season
several cuttings may be made.
With scythe and fork one may cut
and heap it more rapidly than any other
early soiling crop, and moving ma
chine is scarcely needed, so small is the
area required at each feeding. 1t is
eaten by my COWS with the greatest
avidity, and is fed as an Alternative to
the working cattle and horses which,
being stabbed the entire year, are much
benefited by it, especially as it is not so
laxative as green rye or clover.
Prickly comfrey is an enormous Weld
er; 1t Will produce more nutriment, per-
haps more weight, from a given area
than Indian corn, provided moisture
enough be present 1t shows nutritive
analysis closely approaching that of
clover; it produces cream of the finest
flavor; it is almost medicinal in its
wholesomeness; once established it is
the most easily grown crop on the farm. |!
Why, then. has it been tried and con-
demned so generally? Simply because |
the taste for it is one acquired against
the will of the animal.
A cow will starve rather than eat
freshly cut comfrey leaves. Run them
through a cutter and mix them with an
equal portion Of corn meal and bran,
and the COW in trying to get at the meal
will soon acquire for the comfrey taste
never afterward to be forgotten. have
now to educate the young stock only. /
am surprised that this little matter Of
education should have stood so long in
the way Of adopting forage plant of
great merit.
The permanent comfrey plot should
be close to the stables for convenience.
md requires little room, so that more
is thus saved near the stables
han when rye, clover, oats and peas are
ised. The labor is less than with crops
which, grown in rotation, must often be
It distance. As apple growing is my
pecialty, and it demands much atten-
ion, the dairy is managed with the
east labor consistent with good results.
The cream is taken from the door ON j
he cooperative system and the manure /
all saved and most easily cared for by
sing self cleaning platforms; and nv !
rowing intensive crops the entire area
equired lies close to the buildings. q
Thirty-five head of cattle and horses 4
re now kept on the seventy acres here c
! Duchess county, N. Y. It would be b
ute as easy to double the stock, but b
neither the profit would be doubled is b
oubtful. 1t would seem that partial
'iling may lessen the cost of stock keep @
g. since the same expense in taxes and Il
terest on land answers for a larger
mount Of stock and drives to pasture
. shortened. but the high cost Of labor
ay make complete soiling too costly as II
It for general adoption.-M. II. Hart d
Rural New Yorker.