THE ORCHARD IN ITS COMMERCIAL ASPECT. 77 



In Smith's " Dictionary of Commerce " it is stated, that in 

 1S33-4-5 the best cider ranged from is. to is. 6d. a gallon ; family 

 cider for the farmer's own use, or for public houses, 4d. to lod. a 

 gallon ; whilst the cider-kin, or water cider of the labourer when 

 sold ranged from 2id. to 6d. a gallon; and these prices seem to 

 have amply remunerated the producer. 



The market prices of Cider at the present time (1885) are as 

 follows : — For the best quality of Cider sold in cask, from is. to 2s. 

 the gallon ; and the same quality, when fresh bottled, meets with 

 a ready sale at 8s., los., or r2S. the dozen. Cider of the second 

 quality, to which more or less water has been added, sells for 

 family use on draught, from the cask, at from 6d. to lod. the gallon ; 

 whilst the common Cider for farmhouse use will usually fetch jQi 

 the hogshead of 100 gallons. The price of Perry ranges from 4d. 

 to IS. 6d. the gallon according to quality. 



These prices are those which generally prevail immediately after 

 production ; but for the Cider made from special varieties of fruit, 

 and for the best Cider a few years in bottle, the prices are much 

 higher. At a public auction, a short time since (1880), at the 

 late Mr. Mason's, Foxwhelp Cider was sold freely at 30s. 

 the dozen, and Taynton Squash Perry fetched 28s. a dozen, 

 at the same sale. Either of these varieties, and some others 

 too, when of good age and of the first quality, will always 

 command high prices. The Foxzuhelp Cider from Mr. John 

 Bosley, of Lyde, near Hereford, which won the First Prize at the 

 Herefordshire Agricultural Society's Meeting at Ledbury, in 1884, 

 sold quickly at j[^x the dozen. Oldfield Perry, in a good season, 

 has been sold for a guinea a dozen, from the glebe land in the 

 parish of Credenhill. 



As a general rule the small orchardists make better Cider than 

 the large farmers, and for the very reason that they give their 

 chief thought to it. It is their main harvest, and it is not too much 

 to say, that many of them get from their trees not only the rent they 

 pay, but, in addition, a considerable help towards their livelihood. 

 A rough calculation may easily be made for an acre of orcharding 

 well cared for, and fit, by the pigs and fowls constantly beneath the 



