CHAP. XLII. ROSA‘CEH. PyY‘RUS. 897 
Directions for making Cider. The colours of good cider fruits are red and 
yellow; and the colour to be avoided is green, as affording a liquor of the 
harshest, and generally of the poorest, quality. The pulp should be yellow, 
and the taste rich, and somewhat astringent. “ Apples of a small size are 
always, if equal in quality, to be preferred to those of a larger size, in order 
that the rind and kernel may bear the greatest proportion to the pulp, which 
affords the weakest and most watery juice.” (Heref. Rep., p. 84.) To 
prove this, Dr. Symonds of Hereford, about the year 1800, made one hogshead 
of cider entirely from the rinds and cores of apples, and another from the 
pulp only, when the first was found of extraordinary strength and flavour ; 
while the latter was sweet and insipid. (Jdid.) 
In Herefordshire and Worcestershire the fruit is suffered to hang on the tree 
till it is ripe enough to fall of itself. When gathered, it is laid in heaps on 
the ground in the open air, fully exposed to the weather; unless a frost 
comes on, when the fruit should be carefully covered with straw. Each sort 
should be kept separate ; or, if this cannot be done, the sorts ripe at the same 
time should be ground together. The object of this is, that the fruit may be 
reduced in the mill into a homogeneous mass; and this can only be done by 
choosing fruit of the same kind, or, at least, of the same degree of ripeness, to 
be put into the millat thesame time. When ground, the fruit should be mixed ; 
as ciders made from mixed fruit are always considered the best. The cider-mill 
(see Encyc. of Cot. Arch., fig. 1181.) consists of a circular stone, in the form of a 
solid broad wheel, about 33 feet in diameter and one foot wide, which is drawn, 
by a horse, in a circular trough of stone about 10 ft. in diameter and 8 in. deep. 
In this trough the apples are placed (great care having been taken, first, to 
pick out all that appear to be what is called black rotten); and the grinding 
proceeds slowly, a free access of air being allowed to the fruit till it is reduced 
to a homogeneous mass, in which the rinds and kernels are scarcely distin- 
guishable from the pulp. The mass is then suffered to remain 24 hours in an 
open tub, fully exposed to the air; and it is afterwards put into hair cloths, 
and pressed ; the juice being deposited in casks, which are not quite filled, and 
which are left in the cpen air. If left to itself, the cider would be subjected 
to three fermentations: Ist, the vinous, which is necessary to give it strength; 
2dly, the acetous, which, if suffered to continue, would soon change it into 
vinegar; and, 3dly, the putrefactive, by which it would become insipid, and 
totally unfit for use. The cider-maker should watch the height of the first fer- 
mentation, which is indicated by some of the impurities contained in the liquor 
rising to the top. The cider should then be racked off, and the lees filtered 
through linen bags, The goodness of the cider depends in a great measure on 
this operation; and, if it be well timed, and well executed, the liquor will be 
perfectly clear and bright. The casks should still want 4 or 5 gallons of 
being full, and should stand in this state, exposed to the open air, a bung being 
lightly put over the hole, till the end of March, when the liquor should be 
racked off into clean casks, which should be completely filled, and the bung 
firmly fixed. Theusual produce of an apple tree is from one to two hogsheads of 
fruit, which will, under the most fayourable circumstances, yield one hogshead 
of cider; but, more commonly, it requires three trees to produce two hogs- 
heads. Some of the drier kinds of apples, such as the Hagloe crab and the 
Stire apple (both celebrated as cider apples), will, in dry seasons, only yield a 
hogshead of cider frem three hogsheads of fruit, or the produce of three trees. 
The best time for bottling cider is when it is two years old; and, if well made, 
and of sound quality, the Herefordshire and Worcestershire cider will keep 
20 or 30 years. (For a more detailed account of the method of making 
cider in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, see Encyclopedia of Cottage Archi- 
tecture, Herefordshire Report, and Pott’s Survey of Worcestershire; and for 
figures of the mill, press, and other utensils necessary, see Encyclopedia of 
Cottage Architecture.) 
In Devonshire, rollers are employed instead of mills; and the apples are 
only broken, or crushed, instead of being reduced to a homogeneous mass ; and 
302 
