68 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



The Virginia crab is an alternate bearer. An orchard 

 of two hundred and forty trees of this kind is cultivated, in 

 Pennsylvania, by Mr. Wynkoofi. The trees are about 

 twenty years old, and they afford him, every other year, 

 about one hundred and sixty barrels of cider, which, after 

 being made, and fined, after his superior method, he sells 

 for about thirteen dollars a barrel, exclusive of the cask. 

 Cider made from the Virginia crab has been taken for 

 champaine. 



The tree is hardy, suited to almost all soils, uniform in its 

 bearing, and the limbs are less liable to split or break off, 

 when heavily laden with fruit. Probably it might be made 

 a yearly bearer by being treated, at the commencement of 

 its bearing, in the manner directed under APPLETREE. If 

 so, it would greatly enhance its value. 



For the process pursued by Mr. IVynkoofi) in maturing 

 his cider, sec CIDER. 



CRE-AM. Pans, or trays, for holding milk, to raise the 

 most cream, ought to be broad and shallow, and the milk 

 put in them should not be more than three or four inches 

 in depth. Tin and wood are the best materials for making 

 these. Some line wooden trays with lead ; but this is a 

 bad practice, as lead may sometimes be dissolved by the 

 acid of the milk, and then it is poisonous. Wooden trays 

 ought to be well scalded, and dried in a cool place, as often 

 as new milk is put into them, to prevent the wood from 

 absorbing too much of the acidity of the milk, and thus 

 coagulating the new milk, before the cream has time to 

 rise; for cream will not rise, after the milk has become 

 coagulated. 



It new milk be kept as warm as when it comes from the 

 Cow, no cream will rise on it; but, when sufficiently cool- 

 ed, the cream separates from the rest and rises to the top. 

 In order then to effect this, to the best advantage, the new 

 milk should be made as cool as possible, and the cooler it 

 is thus made, the more suddenly and effectually the cream 

 will rise. The cooler the cellars, therefore, in which milk 

 is kept, the better. To set milkpans, made of tin, in beds 

 of salt, would, no doubt, be useful, where the cellar is too 

 "warm ; and to set all milkvessels on a floor which is con- 

 stantly covered with cold springwater, is also an excelent 

 plan; and, where it can be clone, ought never to be omited. 



Most of the cream comes last from the Cow in milking. 

 The last half-pint of milk that can be got, by milking the 

 Cow dry, contains as much cream as the first quart, or 

 perhaps three pints; and, for this reason, Cows ought 

 always to be milked as clean as possible. The quantity of 

 cream will also be greater, if the milk of each Cow be 



