354 I'he Canadian Horticulturist. 



ABOUT CIDER AND VINEGAR. 



The best cider vinegar is made without the addition of water. It takes this 

 more than a year to make, and then it is too strong for ordinary use, and should 

 be mixed with one third, more or less, of water Nothing else should be added. 

 If the cider is left in barrels, covered with a cloth, until vinous fermentation 

 ceases it will shorten the time somewhat. But a good vinegar cannot be made 

 in a day. 



A good way is to fill a barrel up to the bung with cider and rainwater in the 

 proportion of one gallon of rainwater to two of cider, and store in a warm place. 

 Acetic fermentation will be hastened by scalding the barrel with boiling vinegar 

 before filling. So also will a few strips of folded brown paper saturated with 

 molasses. The vinegar, after being fully fermented should be drawn off 

 from the mother and put into another cask. 



Another good way to make cider vinegar is to take ten gallons of apple juice 

 fresh from the press and let it ferment fully, which will be in about two weeks» 

 or sooner if kept warm ; then add eight gallons new cider, for producing a second 

 fermentation, and in two weeks add a like quantity for a third fermentation. 

 This last is sufficient. Then stop the bunghole, which should have been 

 covered with gauze to keep out insects, with an empty bottle with the neck 

 downward, and expose it to the sun for some time. When the vinegar is come, 

 draw off one half into a vinegar cask and set it in a cool place above ground 

 for use when clear. With the other half in the first cask proceed to make more 

 vinegar in the same way. Thus one cask is to make in, the other to use from. 

 When making the vinegar, let there be a moderate degree of heat and free access 

 of external air. The process may be hastened by adding to the cider, when 

 you have it, a quantity of the " mother " of vinegar, as it is called — a whitish, 

 ropy coagulum, of a mucilaginous appearance, which is formed in the vinegar 

 and acts as a ferment. The strength of vinegar depends on the amount of sugar 

 or starchy matter to be ultimately converted into acetic acid. — Fruit Growers' 

 Journal. 



Pruning" should not be commenced until the vine has become thoroughly 

 dormant, say about the middle of November. Our object during the summer 

 has been not to grow any superfluous wood, so in pruning we should leave only 

 such canes as are needed to renew the parent vine. Trim all laterals not 

 required back to two buds, and see that the vine is securely fastened to i-ts 

 support when not layered for the winter. It is a good practice to rake up all 

 grape foliage and trimmings, and burn them. Whatever disease there may be 

 present will be most likely to be found on the foliage and tender shoots. Throw 

 a light covering of evergreen boughs, corn stalks or coarse, strawy manure around 

 the roots for winter and let them rest — The American Cultivator. 



