258 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



maple, you must take it when it flows, or its 

 juices go to enlarge the tree ; so a cow half 

 milked will gain more flesh, at the cost of your 

 milk and cream. Move the udder at the close 

 of milking, in every direction, to be sure you 

 have all the milk, but do not spend a long while 

 in stripping, lest you get the cow into a lazy habit 

 of ekeing out the richest portion of her bounty. 



£t In the morning the cows should be driven 

 gently two or three times round the yard before 

 milking, they will yield more for the exercise 

 and they will be less likely to scatter manure in 

 the way to pasture. We have seldom hired a 

 good milker. Females are better than men — 

 they have more patience. A good milker will 

 obtain at least one quarter more than one that 

 milks slowly. We have often proved this : we 

 hired one summer a man from New Hampshire 

 who had managed a farm for several years. — 

 He was clever, but extremely moderate ; we 

 then had four cows in milk, and discovered our 

 slow milker was fast drying up our cows ; we 

 concluded to give him our aid, and let him milk 

 only two ; on the first trial he obtained the same 

 quantity that we did. In one w T eek we obtained 

 one quart more than he at a milking ; he said 

 his cows were not equal to ours ; we then shifted 

 and obtained, within nine days, more milk from 

 his cows than he did from ours. This was 

 wholly to be ascribed to his moderate milking, 

 for he left none in the udder. 



" We have forbidden children, and cats, and 

 dogs, and talkers of all description to enter the 

 yard in the milking season — for all should be 

 quiet if you would get all the best of the cream ; 

 but if children enter not, how will they learn to 

 milk ? If you have an old cow that you intend 

 to dry soon, let yom freshman — or freshwoman, 

 as they are styled at female colleges — make a 

 first trial on her. Teach hin to sit close to the 

 cow, for the nearer he sits, the less will he be 

 hurt by a kick. Fie should sit so far back as 

 to front the side of the udder, and his left arm 

 should constantly rest against the cow's right 

 leg — then if she raises her foot, his arm will 

 keep it off the pail ; she cannot kick him for 

 two reasons — her limbs are so formed that she 

 must either strike forward or back — and if she 

 could kick out directly towards him, he would 

 receive no blow while his arm rests firmly 

 against her leg — the most she could accomplish 

 would be to push him away. 



" The child should grasp the teat close to its 

 extremity, and the milk will be easier drawn. 



"Sometimes, in cases of malicious kicking, 

 the cow should be whipped with a birch, but 

 this should instantly follow the offence, or she 

 will not well understand why she is punished — 

 still it is better to flatter them into their duty as 

 the cunning schoolmaster did his scholars, for 

 you must expect no full pail at the time of using 

 compulsory measures. 



" Well bred cows seldom kick ; but they often 

 raise up a foot to brush the flies off or to give 

 you a hint that you do not hold the teats right, 

 and that you give them pain. When there is 

 the least doubt in your mind whether a mali- 

 cious kick was intended, by all means put the 

 most favorable construction on her conduct, and 

 treat her accordingly — as real gentlemen always 

 do on the conduct of females of all descriptions." 



POTATOES A LA MAITRE D'HOTEL. 



Every Englishman who goes to the Conti- 

 nent, eats potatoes a la maitre d' 'Hotel. On his 

 return he is desirous of having them at his own 

 table, a thing that can seldom be accomplished, 

 though the process of preparing them is very 

 simple. It is as follows : Boil the potatoes and 

 let them become cold. Then cut them in rather 

 thick slices. Put a lump of fresh butter into a 

 stew pan, and add a little flour, about a tea- 

 spoonful for a middling-sized dish. When the 

 flour has boiled a little while in the butter, add, 

 by degrees, a cupful of broth or water. When 

 this has boiled up, put in the potatoes, with 

 chopped parsley, pepper, and salt. Let the po- 

 tatoes stew a few minutes, then take them from 

 the fire, and when quite off the boil, add the 

 yelk of an egg beat up with a little lemon juice 

 and a table-spoonful of cold w T ater. As soon as 

 the sauce has set, the potatoes may be dished 

 up and sent to table. — Magazine of Domestic 

 Economy. 



HENRICO AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



This Society held its annual meeting on Wed- 

 nesday, the 16th ult. It was intended to have 

 been accompanied hy a horticultural and me- 

 chanical exhibition ; but the committee to whom 

 this arrangement, was submitted, soon found 

 that the excited state of the political world had 

 banished, for this fall at least, any feeling of in- 

 terest in agriculture from the minds of our coun- 

 tymen. The doors were, therefore, thrown open 

 and the meagre assortment offered for premiums, 

 was exhibited to the public without charge. — . 

 There were some handsome specimens of manu- 

 facture and of domestic industry, but nothing of 

 very peculiar interest either to the mechanic or 

 the farmer ; the whole exhibition, however, was 

 better than was expected, under the circum- 

 stances. 



We were much pleased to witness the reviving 

 zeal which seemed to animate the members in 

 the meeting of the Society, and were glad to 

 hear that the prospects for a grand exhibition 

 next fall were better than they had ever been 



