236 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



salt; they do need it just as much as any other cows, only 

 they are not, as a rule, educated to eating it ; give them 

 a chance to find out what it is, and they will seek it as 

 eagerly as any Northern cow. 



It is necessary to the preservation of their health, and 

 is in fact one of the most powerful of those preventives 

 an ounce of which is "worth more than a pound of cure." 

 Equal quantities of salt and oak-wood ashes mixed together 

 in water and then dried in large lumps will, it is said, draw 

 homeward the most refractory cows, so extremely fond of 

 it are they. Try it and see. 



All through the summer, from spring until fall, the wire- 

 grass and shrubs of the piney woods furnish ample susten- 

 ance to the cattle that roam at large far and wide. But, 

 as winter draws near, the gr^ss ceases to grow and becomes 

 tough and dry, while the shrubs drop their leaves, and the 

 saw-palmetto, on which also they feed, loses the crispness 

 that seems to be its chief attraction. 



Then the cows begin to come honae later and later, even 

 those that have hitherto been in the habit of coming in 

 early, and the milking has to be done by the light of a fire 

 built in the pen, or by that of a lantern ; the latter is much 

 more convenient, and its rays are quite sufl^icient to guide 

 both the milker and the cows. 



This coming home late to their calves, all through the 

 season, is a fault of which not a few Florida cows are 

 guilty ; but who can blame them, seeing how entirely their 

 education has been neglected and how very badly they 

 have been brought up ! In fact, like the celebrated Topsy, 

 they have had no bringing up, they have "just growed." 



This vexatious fault that we have mentioned is one that 

 may, however, be easily corrected. All that is necessary 

 to bring the cows home regularly at or before dusk is a 

 few stalks of corn-fodder, a handful of cow-pea vines, or 



