SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
215 
FEEDING MIECH COWS ON T031AT0ES, &C. 
We tried an experiment in feeding milch cows, that 
did so well with us that we will give the facts, and per- 
haps it may be tested by others, and prove equally satis- 
factory to them. 
In planting cotton we left two rows together, in which 
no cotton seed were dropped. About four feet apart in 
each row, we had the soil dug up with a grubbing hoe, 
about a foot deep, with about two spades of manure well 
incorporated with loose earth, and made into a flat, low 
hill, or bed. When a good season came, we planted a to- 
mato plant (large round red) in each hill. They were 
worked with the cotton, and came very finely. Our 
squash patch was pretty large, and planted with a view 
to feeding cows. 
For two or three monhts we were able to have a half 
bushel or three pecks of tomatoes boiled with about the 
same quantity of squashes each day, and given to four 
cows. The results were remarkable. The quantity of 
butter exceeded the usual average for that number of 
cows; but what was the most striking result, and that 
which we had not anticipated, was the beautiful yellow 
collor, and delicious flavor imparted to the butter by the 
tomatoes. — So. Ca. Agriculturist. 
THE SHADOWS OF CHILDJHOOD. 
God bless the little children! We like their bright 
eyes, their happy faces, their winning ways, their rosy 
dreams! Nothing seems to weigh down their buoyant 
spirits long: misfortune may fall to their lot, but the 
shadows it casts upon their iife-path are fleeting as the 
clouds that come and go in an April sky. Their future 
may, perchance, appear dark to others, but to their fear- 
less gaze it looms up brilliant and beautiful as the walls 
of a fdirj’’ palace. There is no tear which a mother’s 
gentle hand cannot wipe a.way, no wound that a mother’s 
kiss cannot heal, no anguish which the sweet murmuring 
of her soft, low voice cannot soothe. The warm gener- 
ous impulses of their nature have not been fettered and 
cramped by the cold formalities of the world ; they have 
not yet learned to veil a hollow heart with false smiles, or 
hide the basest purpose beneath honeyed words. Neither 
are they constantly on the alert to search out our faults 
and foibles with Argus eyes; on the contrary, they exer- 
cise that blessed charity which “thinketh no evil.” — Ex- 
change paper. 
Simplicity of English Dress. — In the families of 
many of the nobility and gentry of England, possessing 
an annual income which, of itself, would be an ample 
fortune, there is greater economy of dress, and more sim- 
plicity in the furnishing of the dwelling, than there is in 
many of the homes of our citizens, who are barely able 
to supply the wants of the families by the closest atten- 
tion to their business. A friend of ours, who sojourned, 
not long since, several months in the vicinity of some of 
the wealthy landed aristocracy of England, whose ample 
rent would have warronted a high style of fashion, was 
surprised at tlie simplicity of manners practiced. Ser- 
vants were more numerous than with us, but the ladies 
made more account of one silk dress than would be 
thought here of a dozen. They were generally clothed in 
good substantial stufls, and a display of fine clothing and 
jewelry was reserved for great occasions. The furniture 
of the mansions, instead of being turned out of doors 
every few years for new and fashionable styles, was 
the same which the ancestors of the families for sev- 
eral generations had possessed — substaniial and in excel- 
lent preservation, but plain, and without any preiensi()n-s 
to elegance. Even the carpets on many suits of parloi> 
had been on the floors for fifty years, and were expected 
to do service for another half a century. With us how 
different is the state of things! We are wasting an 
amount of wealth in this country on show and fashion, 
which, if rightly applied, would renovate the condition of 
the whole population of the world, and christianize, civi- 
lize and educate mankind — Cflendar. 
COTTON AND CORN IN 3IISSISSIPPI. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I have planted over 
one-sixth of my cotton crop, and fear I should not have 
stopped. This is the first time I have had to do so, — this 
my 27th crop. 1 will plant over my entire crop of corn, 
found upon careful examination on the 25ih that so much 
is killed, that it is unwise to trust to the living. My corn 
had been harrowed, thinned to a stand, and all plowed 
out. 
I learn from sevei’al, that the “ plowing up” and “plant- 
ing” are the words now generally used by planters when 
talking about their crops. Some have plowed up and 
planted over all cotton, others are at, some more and 
others less, of their corn. Cotton seed are very scarce 
and in demand. 
Having kept a daily record for these 27 years, I can, af- 
ter looking back, speak more definitely than many of my 
brethren. Ice, with the thermometer at 31 degrees on the 
24th April, stands “solitary and alone,” “ without a rival” 
for the coldest mean so late. I remember, that in 1816, 
in June, about the 16th, I think, we had a killing frost. 
At that period of my boyhood, I was required by my sys- 
tematic father to keep notes of passing events, and my 
memory is drawn back to that occurrence, though I am 
not positive as to the day. 
What will corn and meat be worth in 1858 7 Planters 
of the South, what say ye 7 Everybody here is planting 
every acre of cotton possible. 
Yours, truly, M. W. Philips. 
Edwards^ Miss., April, 1857. 
COTTON THKE.SHEK8. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — To your Texas cor- 
respondent, “J. W. Speight,” I would say that some ten or 
fifteen years past. Cotton Threshers were very common in 
Alabama, particularly the southern portion of that State. 
A resident of Mobile by the name of Livingston, (I do 
not recollect his first name) patented a Thresher and 
made and sold a great many, and my impression is, sent 
a good many to Texas. About five years ago I met Mr. 
Livingston in New Orleans, then on his way to Texas 
and I think he then informed me that he was still selling 
those machines. My impression is that they are general- 
ly laid aside, planters relying on the late improvements 
in the Cotton Gins. I have seen various patterns in oper- 
ation. Livingston’s was the best and I think they were 
of but little service. J. T. D. 
Tiiomaston, Miss , 1857. 
Have you Water in your Stock Yard 7 — If not, lis- 
ten to advice, and if it is possible, introduce it— either set 
a ram or windmill, or one of the self-acting wells, or lay 
a pipe from a spring on the hill, or throw a dam across 
the brook and lay a pipe from that — some how or other 
manage to have flowing water and plenty of it, so as not 
to drive your stock to the brook, or have to pump, or 
turn a crank half a day to draw waterfor them. One has 
no idea of the convenience till he has tried it. Sit down 
and make an estin.ateof the time it takes in four months 
to draw water for forty head of stock, or to lead or to 
drive them an eighth of a mile to water, and our word for 
it, the water will come in a pipe if there is any such thing. 
I So says the Homestead, and so say we, 
