70 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



lias been paid to orchards. This he believes to be owing to the want of a due proportion of 

 the peculiar acid which is found in the greatest quantity in the wild fruit, and suggests 

 that it may be expedient to mix a certain quantity of the crab-apples with the fruit before it 

 is crushed. 



'2. The best time of the year for making cider. As Mr. Knight recommends the fruit to 

 be perfectly ripe, even mellow, before it is crushed, the process of making cider, if this 

 course is adopted, can only happen late in the autumn. As it is difficult, also, \o manage 

 the fermentation of the liquor in warm weather, it is better to defer the making of cider to 

 as late a period as possible; if, however, the liquor can be put into a cold cellar alter the 

 first fermentation in over, the manufacture might commence earlier. -It should be borne in 

 mind that the juice of unripe fruits ferments more quickly than that of those which are ripe. 



3. Fermentation of the Juice. The researches of scientific men, although very elaborate, 

 have done very little in throwing light upon the nature of fermentation : it appears to par- 

 take, in a measure, of the vital principle, of the phenomena attending which we know 

 nothing. Many curious and interesting facts have been discovered during the investigation, 

 but none of which appear to be of much use in the making of cider. There are three kinds 

 of fermentation, or rather there are some products which pass regularly through three 

 stages of fermentation — namely, the vinous, the acetous, and the putrescent. Other sub- 

 stances pass at once to one or other of the latter stages ; gum and water turning to vinegar 

 without forming any spirit, and meat at once putrefying. It is not desirable that the vinous 

 fermentation should be complete in the manufacture of cider, in which case all the sugar of 

 the apple would be converted into spirit; this never does happen without a portion of vine 

 being also formed, the acetous fermentation going on conjointly with the' vinous ; as when 

 cider frets a great deal, it may be very strong, but is comparatively of little value, having 

 lost all its richness, and become sour. The vinous fermentation stops naturally before it has 

 run its course, and it is the object of the maker to avail himself of this property in the 

 liquor, and to endeavor to prevent any secondary fermentation taking place ; the number of 

 schemes which have been suggested to prevent this shows that it is the most important 

 point to be attended to in the manufacture of good cider. Mr. Booker is of the opinion that 

 a hundred-gallon cask is much better than one larger, and that the liquor is not only more 

 easily managed, but more likely to be good; it maybe that eider in large oasks beoomM 

 stronger, but it is not so frequently rich as in small hogsheads. Although it may sot be ap- 

 parent, fermentation commences as soon as the juice is expressed from the fruit: and the 

 sooner the cask is filled and allowed to remain quiet, the more regular and certain will be 

 the process. What should we think of the brewer who.- while his beer wa* working, brewed 

 another quantity, and added the raw wort to the first? Yet this i- oonstaatly done in fill- 

 ing a large cask with cider ; or even worse, for the apple-juice bj added OOld, whereas the 

 wort might be mixed with the beer while warm. It would be greatly better to keep the 



liquor in Open tub", till enough be obtained to till tl a-k, and then to put it together at 



once. The application of cold will check fermentation immediately. •• I have seen liquor 



in a state of froth boiling out of a large jar. suddenly re i 1 to a state of qn . by 



pumping water upon the side. This fact induced mc to cause an experiment to be tried 

 during a very bad -• i-.n fur the cider-making, the weather being very warm : a cask of 



juice was rolled into a brook of oold water, and sunk by st bached t.i it: Itreraah 



in that position till nearly Christmas, and WSS much better than any other made that y, 



foot stillness is very desirable, as motion is found t" excite the acetous fermentation, a 



tie of wine attached to the sail of a windmill in motion, was, alter three da rta 1 



int.. vinegar, although closely corked. When a second fermentation does take ),: 



there is very littie hope of its being ries sad good, [n men case, I should recommend its 



■ jut into tub l to the cold as much »~ possible, and, after being thus 



flattened, put back Into the nasi, at the seats ante well stirring ap the whites of tit' □ or 



twenty eggs, previously mixed op with a portion of the liquor: if this succeeds in fining it, 



whi' My it will, it may then be racked into a oh : - and closed BS ii b a- pos- 



from the air. It is probable that a great deal of srisehief is caused by some principle 

 of fermentation remaining in the ca^k ; this might be pr e v e nte d by well scalding the casks 



