THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



179 



(cider and perry) is considerable. Cider was for- 

 merly subject to a duty of 10s. a barrel, but this 

 impost ceased in 1830. In 1828 74,440 barrels 

 paid duty, but there was much besides this quan- 

 tity clandestinely made. It is probable that the 

 amount jiroduced has not much increased since the 

 repeal of the duty. The uncertainty of the crop, 

 even in the West of England, and on the most 

 suitable soils, has chiefly operated against the ex- 

 tension of our cider orchards. It is noticeable aiso 

 that the amount of even foreign wines consumed in 

 England has been far from keeping place with the 

 increase of our population and the wealth of the 

 country. Our population, which in 1801 was about 

 10,000,000, is now more than 20,000,000. In 

 1801 the quantity of wine retained for home-con- 

 sumption was 7,006,310 gallons, the next year 

 6,355,749 gallons. In 1825 the population had 

 increased to about 15,000,000; the consumption 

 of wine in that year was 8,053,995 gallons. The 

 quantities imported during the last three years have 

 been — 



1855 8,946,766 gallons. 



1856 9,481,880 „ 



1857 10,336,845 „ 



Cider is supposed to have been first made in this 

 country in the twelfth century ; and it is probable 

 that the warm valleys of the West of England, on 

 the old red sandstone formation, speedily became 

 known as the districts best adapted for the pro- 

 duction of cider and perry. It was soon found 

 that certain juicy, harsh-flavoured varieties of the 

 apple and pear were the best for the manufacture 

 of either. 



Old Worlidge, who wrote about two hundred 

 years since, tells us indeed, in his "Mystery of 

 Agriculture," that the cider orchards did not need 

 very careful enclosures, since the cider apples of 

 his days, as now, were " not at all tempting to the 

 palate of the thief." And another old writer, 

 quoted by Mr. Falkener, when speaking of a cele- 

 brated cider made in his time, from a mixture of an 

 uneatable pear which then grew in the neighbour- 

 hood of Ross, called the "Jenny Winter," and the 

 wild crab, says of it — "The pear is of no use 

 except for making cider. If a thief steal it, he 

 would incur a speedy vengeance, it being a furious 

 purger; but being joined with well-chosen crabs, 

 and reserved to due maturity, it becomes richer 

 than a good French wine; but if drunk before the 

 time, it stupefies the roof of the mouth, assaults 

 the brain, and purges violently." It is evident 

 that certain precautions, carefully observed by the 

 best makers in the cider districts, are too apt to be 

 neglected in those counties where cider is not 

 largely made for sale ; and hence the watery, poor 

 cider too often produced in such places. The 



advantage of sweating the apples was known in the 

 days of Worlidge ; for he tells us (p. 1 39) — "About 

 twenty or twenty-two bushels of good cider apples 

 from the tree will make a hogshead of cider : after 

 they have lain awhile in heaps to mellow, about 

 twenty-five bushels will make a hogshead." Mr. 

 F. Falkener {Jour. Boy. Ag. Soc, vol. iv, p. 406) 

 thinks that every 100 lbs. weight of apples yield 

 about seven gallons of juice — that is 70 per cent, 

 of their weight. The process of cider making, so 

 quaintly described by old Worlidge, seems to have 

 altered but Httle during the last two hundred 

 years ; his directions, indeed, very nearly agree 

 with those of Mr. Knight, of Downton, given by 

 Mr. Falkener as the practice of the best Hereford- 

 shire cider makers. It seems that as the fruit 

 falls, it is collected in heaps of about eight or ten 

 inches deep, or is conveyed to an open airy shed 

 or apple-loft. In collecting the apples for making 

 the best cider, the green fruit is thrown aside. In 

 these heaps the apples should remain some weeks, 

 until they become quite mellow. When conveyed 

 to the mill, all the decayed fruit are picked out. 

 The pulp is thoroughly broken down by the action 

 of the mill, not only for the more perfect extraction 

 of the juice afterwards by the press, but also for 

 the free admission of the air to every part of it. 

 With this view the grinding should not be a hur- 

 ried, but rather a slow operation ; for the more the 

 pulp is exposed to the action of the air, the more 

 saccharine it becomes, and the cider will be the less 

 liable to violent fermentation in the cask. The 

 pulp is allowed to remain exposed to the air four- 

 and-twenty hours before it is conveyed to the press, 

 in order to obtain as large an absorption of air as 

 possible. In some instances the pulp is only 

 slightly pressed, again spread to the air for some 

 time, and afterwards returned to the expressed 

 juice and pressed again. With such or similar 

 preparations as the above, the increased richness of 

 the juice, the diminished energy of the ferment, 

 and the low temperature of the season, are all 

 favourable to that moderate degree of fermentation 

 which is requisite for making sweet cider. When 

 the liquor is put into the casks, a considerable 

 hullage or space between the bung and the surface 

 of the liquor should be left, to allow a freer access 

 of air ; and the casks should be placed in an open 

 and airy place, as in confined places or cellars the 

 cider ferments too rapidly. If, notwithstanding 

 this precaution, the fermentation become very 

 active, the liquor should be immediately racked oflT, 

 and the operation repeated if it again occur. The 

 too great activity is indicated by a loud hissing 

 noise, which is heard upon applying the ear to the 

 bung-hole. The fermentation sometimes com- 

 mences in a day or two, and at others not for many 



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