112 Account of a Jiew Pummice Press, 



I have ever seen, if not all the truly excellent^ has been 

 pressed immediately from the mill.* 



The truth is, that cyder making depends onjermenta- 

 tion ; a subject less understood than any other to which 

 philosophy or chymistry, have attended ; and my know- 

 ledge of it, is just sufficient to warrant the sentiment, and 

 to have learned, that the little that is known on the sub- 

 ject, it is extremely difficult to communicate, or to reduce 

 to practice, in a countr}'^ whose climate is so extremely 

 variable as that of Pennsylvania, sometimes even in 

 the cyder making season, so zvarm as to put the fermen- 

 tation above controul ; and at times soon after, so cold 

 as totally to suspend it ; so that it unavoidably commen- 

 ces again and goes beyond its proper point in the spring, 

 A wort of malt and hops, fermented at 65° and separat- 

 ed from its yeast in due time, becomes spontaneously 

 fine, and even perfectly bright ; is a fine colour accord- 

 ing to the colour of its materials ; is soft and free from 

 bitterness. A part of the sa?ne xvort fermented at 76° has 

 a cloud fixed in it, which art has not yet been able to 

 remove ; is so far decomposed as to cause the resin of 

 the hop to offend the palate with its bitter, which grows 

 more and more offensive by time and finally acquires the 

 offensive bitter of the aloes. The pulp of the apple 



* This opinion is so different from that generally entertain- 

 ed by cyder makers, that experiments are well worth making 

 to determine the point, or to ascertain the difference which 

 pressing the pummice immediately from the mill, and per- 

 mitting it to remain some hours before pressing, would occa- 

 sion in the quality of the liquor. The subject is earnestly 

 recommended to the attention of farmers. — ^s^ore by a Member 



