ORCHARDS. 213 



4th. The practice of pressing the pomace in hair cloths is 

 certainly much preferable to the common mode in this coun- 

 try of enclosing it in bands of straw, or lining the press crib 

 with it; because the straw, when heated in the mow or stack, 

 gives the cider a bad taste. The improved cider mills and 

 presses of the present day, however, do not require straw, but 

 the pomace is thrown into the crib, the slats of which are 

 placed so close as not to allow the pomace to escape with the 

 cider. 



5th. After cider has run from the press it should be strained 

 through hair or fine wire selves into a large open vat or hogs- 

 head, which will contain a whole making, or as much as can 

 be pressed in one day. When cider has remained in this vat 

 or hogshead a day, or sometimes more or less, according to 

 the ripeness of the fruit of which it has been made, and the 

 state of the weather, the pomace or grosser parts of the pulp, 

 will rise to the top, and in a few hours, or after a day or two 

 at farthest, will grow very thick, and when little white bab- 

 bles break through it, draw it off through a faucet hole within 

 three inches of the bottom, that the lees may quietly remain 

 behind. This operation is of great impor'tance, as the sink- 

 ing of the feculent matter would greatly injure the liquor. 



6th. On drawing off the cider from the vat, it must be put 

 into clean casks and closely watched, to prevent the ferment- 

 ation; when, therefore, white bubbles, as mentioned above, 

 are perceived at the bung-hole, rack it again ; immediately 

 after which it will probably not ferment until March, when 

 it must be racked off as before — if possible, in clear weather. 



7th. It is of great consequence to prevent the escape of 

 the carbonic acid, or fixed air, from cider, as on this principle 

 all its briskness depends. To effect this, various expedients 

 have been contrived. In the State of Connecticut, where 

 much cider is made, it is a common practice to pour a tumbler 

 of olive oil in the bung hole of every cask. Upon the same 

 principle we have lately heard of a man who boasted that he 

 had drunk brisk beer out of the same cask for five years ; and 

 that his secret was to cover the surface of the liquor with 

 olive oil. Cider should be racked as seldom as possible, for 



