[Plugin: Contact Form 7] setting default form value programmatically

I am trying to use the custom fields to pass the subject value to the form. But the form value field escapes the < and > in the php string…
value=”<? print $custfield; ?>”

I have tried this in the generate tag window, tried scripting it in the form window, and tried in the mail window. I know the custom field value is available because I can echo it from the loop with:
<?php $custfield = get_post_meta(’19’, ‘myinfo’, true); echo $custfield;?>

New to WordPress, not new to scripting.
Thanks,
Teresa