STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 151 



for cider or vineti;ar, consequently I <>;ither all the l)est specimens iind 

 send to market, the remainder are fed to stock. As the fall or more 

 solid varieties mature. I start my cider-mill and make them into vine- 

 gar, for which I always find cjuick sale at sixteen to ei<'hteen cents 

 per <4allon. harrel included. 1 cannot say there is much profit in 

 strictly pure cider vinegar at that figure, nnide in my way, for I have 

 no short process, but simply put the juice into good tight barrels, 

 filling them aliout three-fourths full and ))iling them two or three 

 tiers high in a shed or outhouse. Avhere they are allowed to remain 

 through the winter and next summer wath the bung out, and a small 

 cloth tacked over the hole to keep out insects and dust. The barrels 

 not being full gives room for expansion by freezing, which does the 

 vinegar no harm. 



During the following autumn it is racked off and ])ut into cellar, 

 where it will be ready to fill orders with during the winter. I have 

 tried putting into tanks, holding from fifty to one hundred barrels, 

 but with unsatisfactory results, for such large bodies of juice require 

 to be agitated frequently during the summer months, so as to expose 

 it as much as possil)le to light and air, causing it to sour more 

 rapidly, but it usually happens that at the time this should be done 

 there are so nuiny other things on the farm that demand ])rompt at- 

 tention that the vinegar is neglected. And w^hile other vinegar can 

 be numufactured in twenty-four hours and sold for seven to ten cents 

 per gallon. I must confess I see very little eiicouragement for the 

 producer of strictly pure cider vinegar. 



There is a movement now on foot, with fair prospect of success, 

 among the cider and cider vinegar makers of the United States, to 

 have the AV'hisky Vinegar LaAV of 1879 repealed by Congress at its 

 next session. Should that be done we may expect better prices for 

 our cider vinegar. 



I now come to the method oi utilizing fruit by making into 

 cider. This I have been familiar with for more than thirty years. 

 I w^ell remember the time when my father bought a little hand 

 cider-mill which had a capacity of from one to two barrels per day, 

 Avith two m»Mi to handle it. and "when twelve to fifteen barrels of 

 cider made in one year was looked u])on as a large stock. But that 

 time has long passed away, and rapid progress made in the produc- 

 tion of cider-making machinery has brought us to the present, when 

 we turn out daily from twenty-five to forty barrels, and store away 

 in cellars for winter and spring trade froiu \\\(' huiidreil to one 

 thousand barrels, which finds ready sale at fifteen to eighteen cents 

 per gallon, jiackages extra. T now make my whole crop of late 

 apples into cider, not sending a barrel to market, also buying all the 

 good cider ap])les T can get at forty to fifty cents per barrel didivered 

 at my mill. The a|)ples are kept in bins as long as the weather will 

 ])eniiit. thus allowing them to ri])en and nuike a richer quality of 

 cider. They are then run through a grater and ])ressed out immedi- 



