108 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



powerful man with a good cradle will cut grain on from two to four 

 acres in a day. 



CRADLE. 



CREAM. This is the name of the fat, oily, or unctions fluid 

 which rises on the surface of rnilk on standing, being specifically 

 lighter than the other parts, and from which the well known article 

 of butter is made. The richness of milk is very generally estimated 

 by the bulk of cream which thus rises to the surface in a given time. 

 The fatty part of .the milk which exists in the crearn, and which form 

 the butter, is merely mixed with and held in suspension by the water 

 of which the milk chiefly consists. In the udder of the cow it is in 

 some measure separated from, and floats on, the surface of the milk, 

 the later drawn portions being always the richest in cream. Duriug 

 the milking, the rich and poor portions are usually mixed intimately 

 together again, and thus the after-separation is rendered slower, more 

 difficult, and less complete. 



That this is really so is proved by two facts first, that if milk be 

 well shaken or stirred, so as to mix its parts intimately together before 

 it is set aside, the cream will be considerably longer in rising to the 

 surface and second, that more cream is obtained by keeping the 

 milk in separate portions as it is drawn, and setting these aside to 

 throw up their cream in separate vessels, than when the whole milk- 

 ing is mixed together. When the collection of cream, therefore, is 

 the principal object, economy suggests, that the first, second, third and 

 last drawn portions of the milk should be kept apart from each other. 

 Cream does not readily rise through any considerable depth of milk ; 

 it is usual, therefore, to set aside in broad shallow vessels, in which 

 the milk stands at a depth of not more than two or three inches. By 

 this means the cream can be more effectually separated in a given 

 time. 



CROCODILE. An enormous river serpent, that is found in 



