USEFUL PROJECTS. 



847 



some of the impiirities are floated 

 on the surface, but most of them 

 sink to the bottom: the fine part is 

 then carefully drawn off into ano- 

 ther vessel, and the lees afterwards 

 fdtrated in the manner of jelly, 

 through linen bags, by which the li- 

 quor remaining in them is brought to 

 an equal degree of fineness, and is 

 added to the other. All further fer- 

 mentation is to be avoided : and, on 

 any appearance of it, small quanti- 

 ties are drawn off into open tubs, 

 and returned to the main body in a 

 state of flatness. The first fermen- 

 tation, if the Avcather be cool or 

 frosty, viil generally be complefod 

 Mithin a few days; and if the first 

 opportunity of drawing it from the 

 lees be neglected, a change of w'ea- 

 ther, or other circumstances, may 

 render it again impure m a very 

 short time: the brightness of the 

 liquor is therefore the best criterion 

 to decide the jiroper period of rack- 

 ing. The caiks should want four 

 or five gallons to complete their ful- 

 ness, and having rcniained in the 

 open air until the end of March, 

 they should then be completely fill- 

 ed, and the bungs be fixed, which, 

 until now, have only been placed 

 loosely in their situations. 



Ciders, thus manufactured from 

 good fruits, will retain a consider- 

 able proj)ortion of their sweetness to 

 the end of tiiree or four years, when 

 it is gradually lost. At two years 

 1)1(1 it is in the best stale to put into 

 botlles, after which it will soon be- 

 conu' i)risk and sjiarkling; and if it 

 j)osscss much richness, it will re- 

 main, wilh IKtIe perceptible change, 

 during tHen(\' or thirty, years, or as 

 long as the cork duly jjerfornis its 

 oliice. 



It will readily be supposed that 

 all (hsseprc/autiousare uol attended 

 1 



to in making cider for the common 

 use of tiie farm-house. The devour 

 of the liquor is then a secondary 

 consideration, and the great object 

 is to obtain a large quantity at a 

 small cxpencc. In this case, the ap- 

 ples are usually ground as soon as 

 they become nioderately ripe, and ■ 

 the juice is either racked ofTat once, 

 as soon as it becomes tolerably clear, 

 or more frequently conveyed at 

 Once from the press to the cellar : a 

 violent fermentation then com- 

 mences, and continues until nearly 

 the whole of the saccharine part is 

 decomposed. The casks are filled 

 up nntl stop.ped early in the succeed- 

 ing spring, (sometimes sooner) and 

 no further attention is given.- The 

 liquor thus managed is generally 

 harsh and rough, and such as is 

 usually supposed to be preferred by 

 many of the farmers and peasants. 



A still inferior kind of liquor is 

 made by re-grinding the reduced 

 pulp from which the cider Jias been 

 pressed, in a small quantity of wa- 

 ter. Tite residue of three hogsheads 

 of cider thus yields about one hogs- 

 head of the inferior kind, which 

 may be Icept until the next autumn, 

 but usually su])plies the place of ci- 

 der, for the common purposes of the 

 farm-house, nntil harvest, when the 

 superior kind is required and al- 

 lowed. 



The culture of the pcar-trcc, and 

 the management of perry, differ so 

 little from those of the apple and its 

 produce, that the same rules are ap- 

 plicable to both. The pear-tn^ is, 

 however, most successfully propa- 

 gated ofi stacks of its Own species, 

 and lives much longer than the ap- 

 ple, liike the latter, it grows with 

 the greatest luxuriance in str-mg and 

 deep soils : and in these the fnicst li- 

 quor is produced from it: birt it 



will 



