846 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804 



ration, of the fruits: those, whose 

 rind and pii]p are tinged ttith green, 

 or red, without a mixture of yel- 

 low, should be carefully sorted from 

 such as arc yellow, or yellow mixed 

 with red. The latter kinds, which 

 should remain on the trees until 

 ripe enough to fall without being 

 much shaken, are alone capable of 

 making fme cider. Each sort should 

 be collected separately, and kept 

 till it becomes perfectly mellow. 

 For this purpose, it is the common 

 practice to place the fruit in heaps, 

 about a foot in thickness, fully ex- 

 posed to the sun, air, and rain; be* 

 ing never covered, except in very 

 Severe frosts. Each kind should 

 also be ground separately, or mixed 

 with such only as become ripe at the 

 same time; but it is from the former 

 practice that fine ciders, of different 

 flavours and degrees of strength, 

 are best obtained from the same or- 

 chard ; the liquors being mixed af- 

 ter they are made. The practice of 

 mixing different varieties of fruit is, 

 however, often found eligible, for 

 it is less difficult to find the requisite 

 quantities of richness, asfringency, 

 and llavour, in three varieties of 

 fruit, than in one ; and hence cider 

 composed of the juices of mixed 

 fruits generally succeed with greater 

 certainty than those made with one 

 kind. 



In grinding, the fruit should be 

 reduced, as nearly as possible, to an 

 uniform consistency, so that the rind 

 and kernels are scarcely discover- 

 able from the general mass: it 

 should be ground slowly, with free 

 access of air. In the cider-mill of 

 this county, a circular stone about 

 34: feet in diameter, 1 foot wide, and 

 about 12 hundred weight, is sup- 

 ported on its edge, and drawn by a 

 Itorse round a circular trough of 



stone about 8 feet in diameter, and 

 about the depth of 8 inches; into 

 this trough the apples are gradually 

 introduced : and a mill of the di- 

 mensions above described is equal to 

 the complete grinding of one hogs- 

 head in a day. This mill resembles 

 those used in grinding bark, and 

 those also adapted to the purposes 

 of manufacturing gunpowder; in 

 iavourable situations perhaps they 

 might be so constructed as to save 

 the labour of the horse by the use 

 of water; but it is not known that 

 this experiment has yet been made, 

 or the suggestion offered before. 

 All the modes previously in use, such 

 as pounding apples in wooden mor- 

 tars, or cracking them in a hand-mill 

 between twowooden cylinders, armed 

 with spikes, Sec. &c. are very imper- 

 fect indeed, compared with the me- 

 rits of the mill now in use; from 

 which this county has probably de- 

 rived no small portion of its me- 

 rited fame- The quantity of ap- 

 ples sufficient to fill the provincial 

 hogshead of one hundred and ten 

 gallons, varies from twenty-four to 

 thirty bushels; a smaller quantity 

 of pears will fill the same vessel, or 

 even of apples, if made use of im- 

 mediately from the tree. 



When the fruit ha? been thorough- 

 ly ground, the reduced pulp should 

 remain twenty-four hours before it 

 is taken to the press ; a large quan- ( 

 tity of juice will then pass through 

 the hair cloths used in pressing, and 

 this is to be deposited in casks, not 

 quite filled, and situated in the open 

 air. The first fermentation to which 

 the liquor is subjeft, is the vinous ; 

 the second, if not checked or pre- 

 vented, is the acetous ; the third, 

 the putrefaftive. The great obje6t, 

 therefore, of the cider-maker, is to 

 watch the first operation, by which 



some 



