SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
163 
ans, but that they are not cowards, no people have better 
reasons to know than their Gallic neighbors. That a war 
has not followed upon the heels of Mr, Crampton’s dis- 
missal is not to be charged to any decay of British pluck, 
but to the fact that the co.tton plant has superseded the 
■olive branch as an emblem of Anglo-American harmony 
It is not the lives, or the ships, or the money a war would 
involve, but losses of a tar different character, which de- 
terred Palmerston from coming into a collision with this 
•country. It was the fear that a set-to with the Model 
Kepublic would silence the naules and jennies of his fac- 
tories, and hush the anvil ring, and dismount the trip- 
hammers ofhis workshops, that caused him to repress his 
ire, and to pocket that which, under any different state of 
things, he would construe into an insult, and which, if 
given by any other nation, would be the tocsin of immedi- 
ate war. 
All glory, therefore, to the Cotton Plant ! As a preser- 
vative of a good understanding and a provocative of cour- 
tesy between Great Britain and ourselves, it is worth all 
war ships and Minnie rifles that were ever constructed 
For niany years past, England has been trying to work 
out her independence of us, and her statesmen have left 
no means untried to produce a staple in her colonial pos- 
sessions. She has tried it faithfully in India, but without 
success. India cotton is superlatively fine and beautiful, 
but for her purposes the merits of the article must be in 
the positive degree. India cotton makes splendid mulls 
and lawns, such as a bishop might wear or a bride adorn 
herself with. We have seen it of such fineness that its 
entire width could be drawn unrumpled through a finger 
ring. 
But of what use is Bishop’s lawn, nainsook, or India 
cambric, for the clothing of her peasantry and her soldiery! 
None; she must have American cotton for these purposes, 
and none other can be an adequate substitute. The Indian 
article is what the Frenchman terms, magnijique, 
van sublime humbug /” 
We do not feel disposed to regret that this is so. In 
fact, we rather rejoice at it. The great wal 1 which fences 
off British aggression from this country, unlike that which 
protects the lazy celestials from the encroachments of the 
Tartars, is made of cotton, and for the peace and security 
of the world, it may be considered absolutely indispens- 
ably that the mammoth manufactories of Britain should 
place their sole dependence for material upon the good 
faith of this great and glorious Union. It is a little re- 
markable that our cotton defended us at New Orleans in 
1812, against British bullets and bayonets, and that it has 
proved our best safeguard against war with England in 
1856. — Philo.. Eve Jour. 
ONE PENNY’S WORTH OF OIE. 
A very sensible article in your paper some time since, 
from the Builder^ on this subject, so perfectly met my 
views and habits tor many years past; that I cannot re- 
sist the temptation to commend and enforce the idea, to- 
gether with my own experience, to your readers. 
How many things about the house and farm, are worn 
and often ruined for the want of one minute’s care and a 
little dab of oil. Every lock that squeals, give the blade 
of the key a touch of oil. Every catch that jams on the 
latch needs a drop. The hinges of the doors require it and 
the coffee-mill, and the pocket-knife — the tongs, shears 
and scissors, and every implement needs this lubricating 
agent, where metal has friction on metal. Padlocks ex- 
nosed to the weather should have a good cathartic dose. 
You will not be the loser, by touching your boots on 
the side where the little toe comes in contact with the 
leather ; as there is the spring and bend of the foot in 
walking, and where the boots fails first and should 
be kept soft and supple. A dollar saved is two earn- 
ed. How often have I seen a whole family, jamming 
and kicking at a door for months together to make it shut 
and latch ; when two grains of any kind of grease, would 
make it slip like sleighing. 
The complicated machinery of our brief existence will 
not be the worse, by the application of a little of the oil 
of human kindness. It works marvelously on a bad tem- 
per — makes the world jog easier and keeps down wrinkles 
and hard words and worse feelings. An oihj word which 
does not even cost one penny; sometimes saves hard 
knocks and lawyers fees — broom-sticks and black eyes. 
Soft words put away anger, says the prophet. How true ! 
It is the real oleagenous panacea of life, for half the ills 
that flesh is heir to. Make a note of this for constant refer- 
ence . — Rural New Yorker. 
ASTONTSHINtf EFFECTS OF HUANO. 
Although some people may be inclined to doubt the 
truth of the following yarn, we can bring forward any 
quantity of vouchers. An old salt of our acquaintance, 
says that when he was in the guano trade he sailed as mate 
of an old brig w'hich might have been a lender to Noalrs 
ark. On a return trip with a load of guano, the hatches 
were left open one night and a tremendous shower wet 
the guano in the hold, and produced the most surprising 
effects. The timbers of the vessel sprouted and grew in 
all directions. Between decks was a complete bowery. 
The forcastle became an almost impenetrable thicket, and 
the cabin a beautiful arbor. The rudder post being made 
of white oak, grew up into a “live oak” tree, which afford- 
ed a grateful shade to the man at the helm, though he was 
sometimes annoyed by the acorns rattling upon his tar- 
paulin hat. The masts became very imposing with their 
evergreen foliage, and strange to relate, the foretopmast, 
which had been carried away in gale, grew out again, 
and the altitude of all the masts was so much increased as 
to render the brig exceedingly crank. The vessel had 
boughs on her stern and the figure head (speaking figur- 
ately) was as full of boughs as a dancing master. They' 
were obliged to prune the bowsprit and some of the spars 
twice a week. The quarter deck, was covered with shrub- 
bery, and the cook’s caboose resembled a rustic summer- 
house. Crab apples grew on the pump handle, and a 
cherry table in the cabin bore fruit. Perhaps the most re- 
markable circumstance occasioned by the stimulating and 
fertilizing influences of the guano was that cockroaches 
on board became so large that they could get up sail on 
the brig. One of the owners of the craft facetiously re- 
marked that she went out a full-rigged brig and came 
back home half bark. There is nothing like guano to 
make things grow', and for strict truth and veracity give 
us an old sailor when he lays himself out on a big yarn. — 
Boston Herald. 
Icing for Cake. — Two pounds double refined sugar, 
one spoonful of fine starch, one penny W'orth of gum arabic 
in powder, five eggs, one spoonful of rose-water, the juice 
of one lemon. Make the sugar fine, and sift it through a 
hair sieve, rub the starch fine, sift, the gum arabic sift 
also; beat or stir all well together. Take the whites of 
the eggs, whisk them well, put one spoonful of rose water, 
one spoonful of the juice of lemon, beat well together ; then 
put to the sugar by degrees, till you wet it, then beat it 
until the cake is baked ; lay it on with a knife, and the 
ornaments, if you have any ; and if it does not harden 
sufficiently from the warmth of the cake, return it to 
oven. Be careful not to discolor. 
