428 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOOTETW 



CIDER AND VINEGAR MAKING. 



I consider the small natural apples that grow on high ground and 

 gravelly soil best for cider for bottling. If for winter use, almost any 

 rich, pleasant apples can be used — about two-thirds sour and one third 

 sweet. For bottling, I prefer all sour. Every cider-maker will be 

 obliged to decide for himself by experience what varieties are best. 

 Apples should be fully ripe to make best quality cider, and this is often 

 overlooked by cider-makers. 



I believe rap pies are sometimes assorted in order to grade the juice, 

 but such a practice is expensive; and I think a better way is that the 

 farmers who furnish the apples should go over their orchards about 

 October 1st to 10th and gather all the apples that have fallen and have 

 them made into vinegar. The apples that remain on the trees will be 

 nearly all perfect, and they should be gathered before they freeze at all. 

 They should then be piled in heaps of about fifty bushels on the ground 

 (they should never be stored in a building), where they should remain 

 about ten days to ripen. They will then be ready for cider, which 

 should be made about November 1st to 20th, or before the apples can 

 freeze very much. 



In regard to profit: It sometimes pays better to put all the apples 

 into cider, and sometimes it pays better to barrel the best. This de- 

 pends entirely on the market. Last season we had hundreds of bushels 

 of as nice winter apples as I have ever seen brought to our mill to be 

 made into cider. In some other years we get none. 



The apples should be ground very fine, in order to get all the juice, 

 and we run a power press, which we prefer to hand power, though 

 good cider may be made either way. At our mill the cider runs from 

 the press into a 30-barrel vat, and is racked off the same day on which 

 it is pressed, being strained through a fine cloth strainer. Everything 

 about the mill and press must be kept clean and sweet, or it will be 

 impossible to make first-quality cider. 



After the casks are filled, they should be placed in a cool cellar as 

 soon as possible, and the bungs taken out, and care should be taken 

 that every cask is full. The cider will commence fermentation in a few 

 days, and the cask should be left open as long as the foam continues 

 to rise from the bung-hole. When it settles back in the barrel the 

 bungs may be put in. 



After this, if the barrel shows any sign of pressure, a vent hole 

 should be made with a very small gimlet, and it should be closed after 

 the cask is relieved. After remaining ten days, the cider should be 



