CHAP. xLii. bosa'ceje. py'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." (Hcref. Jiej}., 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. (Ibid.) 



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 mill at the same time. When ground, the fruit should be mixed ; 

 as ciders made from mixed fruit are always considered the best. The cider-mill 

 (see Encj/c. of Cot. Arch., fig. 1 181.) consists of a circular stone, in the form of a 

 solid broad wheel, about oh 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, whicii are not quite filled, and 

 which are left in the open air. If left to itself, the cider would be subjected 

 to three fermentations : 1st, 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 nse. 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 oi' 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 brigiit. 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 tiie bung 

 firmly fixed. The usual produce of an apple tree is from one to two hogsheads of 

 fruit, which will, under the most favourable 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 from 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 qualit}', 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 Encyclopcedia of Cottage Archi- 

 tecture, Ilerefordjihire Report, and Pott's Survey of Worcestershire ; and for 

 figures of the mill, press, and other utensils necessary, see Encyclopcsdia 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 



3o 2 



