THE PRESERVATION OF CIDER AND PERRY. 71 



the first frost ; whilst the Red Streak and Winter fruit Cider barrels 

 were not tapped until the winter was well advanced, and were then 

 drank through the following Spring and Summer. 



The strongest and best Cider will keep good in casks for four 

 or five years. It was the custom of the last century not to bottle it 

 until two years old, and up to within the last twenty or thirty years, 

 the best Cider was not usually bottled until the late Autumn of the 

 following year, when about a year old. It has now, however, 

 become the general custom, to bottle all Cider and Perry in the 

 early Spring of the next year, and by this means greater richness is 

 obtained, and it comes more quickly into the market ; although the 

 risk of loss, from the bursting of the bottles, is greatly increased. 



When a cask of Cider or Perry is to be bottled, the bung 

 should be taken out the evening before, that the free gas it contains 

 may escape ; and the bottles also should all be filled, if the con- 

 venience is present, before any of them are corked, and then the 

 risk of loss from bursting is lessened. The bottles and the corks 

 must be of the best quality, and carefully wired. It is better also, 

 when the cellar space admits of it, to let the bottles remain in sand 

 for a few weeks, or even until the following Autumn, before laying 

 them down in the bins. 



A certain amount of insensible fermentation, or molecular 

 change, continues to go on in Cider and Perry, long after all signs 

 of active fermentation have gone by. Thus they improve up to a 

 certain time in the cask, and they will improve still more, and of 

 course last for a much longer time, in bottles. The Alcohol slowly 

 increases at the expense of the Sugar, whilst at the same time the 

 hquor becomes more clear, and acquires additional aroma with its 

 strength. Our ancestors well understood this, as Phillips shows : 



" Cyders in Metal frail improve, the Moyle 

 And tasteful Pippin, in a moons short Year 

 Acquire compleat Perfection : Now they smoke 

 Transparent, sparkling in each drop. Delight 

 Of curious Palate, by fair Virgin crav'd, 



