CRA 



ClVA 



COW-BANE. See Hemlock. 

 COWHERD. One who tends 



cows. 



COWISH, or BISCUIT ROOT. A 

 kind of potato found on the Colum- 

 bia River. 



COW PEA. The Southern bean. 



COWPOX. In farriery, a dis- 

 ease affecting the teats of cows. 

 This disease appears in the form of 

 small bluish vesicles surrounded by 

 inflammation, elevated at the edge 

 and depressed in the centre, and con- 

 taining a limpid fluid. By the use of 

 the virus of this disease has origina- 

 ted the present excellent system of 

 vaccination. 



COW-TIE. A provincial term ap- 

 plied to a short, thick hair rope, with 

 a wooden nut at one end and an eye 

 in the other, being used for tying the 

 hind legs of the cows while milking. 



COW WHEAT. A very inferior 

 herbage plant of Flanders (Melampij- 

 rum praUnse), with light yellow flow- 

 ers (see figure). 



CRAB. The European crab-apple 

 is the F)jrus mains ; it is larger and 

 tarter than ours, which is the P. co- 

 ronaria, an ornamental tree of fifteen 

 or eighteen feet. The American crab 

 furnishes good stocks for dwarfs, and 

 the fruit makes cider. It would also 

 furnish new varieties if cultivated. 



CRACKS IN THE HEELS OF 

 HORSES. See Horse. 



CRADLE. A frame consisting of 

 five or more long strips of wood, prop- 



erly curved and bound together, to be 

 affixed to a scytlie for cutting wheat, 

 &c. The labourer cuts with a cradle 

 five or six times more than with a 

 sicklp 



CRANBERRY. The Oxycoccus 

 macrocarpus, a bog plant in the North 

 and West, yielding a large, acid, red 

 berry, containing malate of lime. In 

 preserves and tarts it is highly es- 

 teemed, and there is an immense de- 

 mand for shipping and exportation. 

 They are readily cultivated by trans- 

 planting, in spring, the cranberry sods, 

 or selecting plants and transferring 

 them to a light soil, rather moist. The 

 runners can be layered, or seed sown 

 in spring. They grow rapidly, cover- 

 ing nearly everything, and are but lit- 

 tle subject to the attacks of insects. 

 The plants are set about 18 inches 

 apart, in rows, and kept clean at first. 



The yield increases for several 

 years, and becomes as great as 400 

 bushels the acre in five years, al- 

 though 200 are a good average. The 

 fruit is gathered by rakes, which serve 

 to prune the plants at the same time. 

 When the berries are intended for 

 keeping, they should be rolled over a 

 gently inclined plane of wood, to re- 

 move such as are soft or rotten. 

 They keep well for a year in tight 

 casks, filled with water and headed 

 close. A barrel of four bushels in 

 England sells readily for $20. The 

 fresh fruit commands $1 50 the bush- 

 el in New-York. 



Several varieties of tall cranberry 

 are found in the United .States ; as 

 the Viburnum oxycoccus, and tlie Pa.m- 

 bina of Oregon ; but they are not cul- 

 tivated, the first being unfit for the 

 table. 



The English Oxycoccus palustris is 

 said by Nicol to be superior to the 

 American ; it is readily cultivated on 

 the margins of ponds, and might be in- 

 troduced into the United States. 



CRANK. " A mechanical contri- 

 vance for changing a revolving into 

 an alternate motion. An iron axis is 

 bent in some part of its length out of 

 its rectilinear direction. As the axis 

 turns, the bent part describes the cir- 

 cumference of a circle, and gives a 



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