THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
241 
January 31.] 
with a gentle fire under it. Directly circles are ob¬ 
served forming round the pan, it is put into the 
dairy; the next morning it is skimmed and beaten up 
with a wooden spoon till it becomes butter, wliich is 
not long in doing. The cream thus scalded, is a 
most excellent addition to fruit, either baked or raw. 
When a cow has calved, warm bran-mashes should 
be given her for two or three nights, with a little 
niti*e mixed with it. Her udder should be well fo¬ 
mented with hot water, twice in the 24 hours ; and, 
;f it feels at all hard, some marsh mallow-leaves, 
boiled in water, may be used, instead of the plain 
water. By watching, and attending to these simple 
things, and not waiting till the animal is really ill, 
you will be spared much loss, and much after-trou¬ 
ble. Remember—“ Prevention is better than cure.” 
A cow should not be turned out to grass till the 
calf is four or five days old; and not then, if the 
weather is wet. She should only remain out a couple 
of hours the first day, gradually increasing the time, 
till the calf is sold; which, if you do not fatten it, 
you will do when a week old. 
A good cow, and a careful dairy-maid, ought to 
make lOlbs. of butter a-week, for the first six weeks 
after calving. I know we read of cows making 161bs. 
and I7lbs. a-week; but I know they are very rare. I 
have only met with one that has made more than the 
lOlbs., and that was a Suffolk cow, and she made 
lllbs. for some weeks after calving. I fear, if you 
strike the average of the quantity of butter each cow 
makes, you will find Tibs, nearer the mark, per week, 
than lOlbs. even. 
The cows that calve in winter, and early spring, 
must have plenty of moist food, such as mangold- 
wurtzel, Belgian can'ots, or brewers’ grains. I prefer 
the Belgian carrot to any other root for winter 
feeding, as it not only increases the milk, but does 
not impart any unpleasant flavour to the butter, as 
turnips and swedes are apt to do. For spring feeding, 
and in the summer, when your meadows arc put up 
for hay, there is nothing equal to lucerne; you can, 
with that crop, in truth, “ cut and come again;” for, 
if sown in March, on sandy loam, it will be ready to 
cut in May, and two or three times afterwards 
during the summer. 
Great care should be taken in milking the cows— 
not a drop should be left in the udder; the “ drip¬ 
pings” are the richest part of the milking; besides, 
if you do not milk a cow clean, she will every day 
give less and less until she becomes dry 
The great secret of obtaining a good supply of 
milk, during many months in the year, is to give 
your cows a frequent change of food. In the sum 
mer this is easily done, but it must also be managed 
in the winter. By having a little forethought, during 
the sowing season, a variety of roots can be stored 
in the autumn for the winter’s keep. 
And now, if some of your cows have calved, may 
I enquire what becomes of the “ skim milk?” I fear, 
from many gentlemen’s houses, the answer would 
be—“ Oh! it goes into the hog-tub.” So far, that is a 
better place for it than to have it heedlessly wasted ; 
but are there not many of the cottagers around you, 
who “ breakfast and sup” without a drop of milk ? 
I know it to be the case, in many parishes; and 
would they not be most thankful for a small portion 
of what you have usually given to the pigs ? If you 
cannot afford to give it, sell it them, at Id. a quart. 
I assure you the boon will be received with great 
gratitude. It is, certainly, rather a troublesome 
job; but what good can be done without trouble? 
If you were to sell, or give, it twice a week, at a 
certain hour, you would soon become accustomed to 
it. “ Habit, you know, is second nature.” 
Farmers, very often, make skim-milk cheeses; the 
whey which runs from them is of no use, except for 
the pigs. In this case, of course, much milk could 
not be given away, or, indeed, sold; but still some¬ 
thing can be done. Have you not heard this sentence 
read ?—“ Be merciful after thy power ; if thou hast 
much, give plentiously; if thou hast little, do thy 
diligence gladly to give of that little.” C. M. A. 
THE PHYSIC-GARDEN. 
By a Physician. 
No. 4.—Crucifeile. 
This eminently European order contains, at the 
same time, some of the most abundant, and the most 
useful, of our English herbs. One of the commonest 
weeds that we have, and which is to be met with on 
every road-side, even within the boundaries of the 
most populous cities—I allude to the Shepherd’s 
Purse—belongs to this order; as also do the Wall¬ 
flower, Honesty, Rocket, and common Stocks, all well- 
known ornaments of our flower-borders. In the 
kitchen-garden, we find some of its most valuable 
tenants belong to this order, viz., cabbage, brocoli, 
cauliflower, turnip, mustard, horseradish, and sea- 
kale. To this list, we must add rape—a very valuable 
herb to the agriculturist; and, also, the following 
common English wild plants :—the water-cress, and 
other cresses, the scurvy-grass, and Jack-by-the-liedge, 
each of which possesses some esculent or curative 
property. The Dyer’s Woad, which formerly afforded 
a favourite blue dye in this country, likewise belongs 
to this group of plants. 
The universal character of the Cruciferae, is to 
possess anti-scorbutic and stimulant qualities, com¬ 
bined with an acrid flavour. The plants which com¬ 
pose it, are, however, on the whole, of more value 
for their esculent than for their medicinal properties. 
Water-cress ( Nasturtium officinale, R. Br.). —Some 
of my readers may fancy that I am digressing, in in¬ 
troducing to them a wild water-plant, but let me tell 
them, if they have never made a garden-plant of the 
water-cress, they should lose no time in doing so—if 
they have a little stream running through their piece 
of ground. Its agreeable warmth and flavour, as a 
salad, are too well known to require comment; but it 
is for its anti-scorbutic, and slightlystimulantqualities, 
that I would particularly recommend it, being firmly 
convinced of its efficacy. Our rural Flora does not 
furnish a more wholesome, or a more useful, salad 
than the water-cress; nor does it afford any other 
salad-herb which is such an effectual purifier of the 
blood. To adopt the forcible though quaint style of 
recommendation of an old writer, “ Those that would 
live in health, may use it, if they please; if they will 
not, I cannot help it.” The juice was formerly used, 
mixed with that of scurvy-grass and Seville oranges, 
when it constituted a popular remedy, known as 
“ Spring juices.” 
Cuckoo-flower ( Gardamine pratensis, L.). —The 
Cuckoo-flowers (which are also known as “Lady’s 
Smocks,”) derive their English name from their blos¬ 
som appearing about the same time of the year that 
the cuckoo’s note is first heard; a circumstance which 
Shakspeare has recorded in these words:— 
“ When daisies pied, and violets blue, 
And Ladies-smocks all silver white, 
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, 
Do paint the meadows with delight, 
The cuckoo, then, on every tree,” &c. 
The leaves of this plant are but little inferior to the 
