39° The Canadian Horticulturist. 



into contact with the air. This is done to improve the color of the cider and 

 make it richer in tannic acid, but recently it has been found that these advan- 

 tages can be obtained as readily by aerating the crude juice, which is the 

 practice in the best American cider mills. Before running the crude juice into 

 barrels, the utmost pains is taken to have them perfectly cleaned. The barrel 

 is washed with a bucketful of warm water containing a quart of ordinary sul- 

 phuric acid, and it is then fumigated with burning sulphur to destroy all vingar 

 or other germs of decay. The most scrupulous cleanliness is observed in the 

 cider cellar to avoid microbes injurious to the fine quality of cider. 



After the juice or " must " is in the barrels, comes the most delicate part of 

 the cider making, for a prompt but brief fermentation is necessary to clarify it 

 before the sugar is entirely changed into alcohol ; the remaining sugar keeps up 

 a slow fermentation and prevents vinegar. This " working " is caused by a 

 great variety of microbes, — one will produce a sweet cider, another a dry or 

 sharp cider ; one produces a fragrant limpid drink, another gives a flat and 

 turbid cider. In France a leaven or culture of microbes, made from apples of 

 the finest cider qualities, is added to common juice to improve the cider. 



Fermentation is slowest at 32° F or less. At 130 to 140°, many of the 

 germs die; between 68 and 78° they are most active. If the temperature 

 is below 68, a small quantity of must, heated to about 120 or 125°, is poured 

 into the barrel. Heating the cellar is condemned, because heat remains after 

 fermentation has been established, and tends to increase the action of the 

 ferments too much. Oxygen is essential to fermentation, hence the liquid 

 should be stirred frequently ; draw off a quantity now and then and return it to 

 the barrel ; leave the bunghole open, or preferably, stop it with a bit of cotton 

 wool, which admits the air, but excludes injurious microbes. Fill the barrel 

 only two thirds full of the juice at first, so that a much larger surface of the 

 liquid will be exposed to the air. If the fermentation is retarded because the 

 must is sour or too acid, add a little juice from a barrel that is working saisfac- 

 torily. A good cider may be destroyed by the addition of a bad ferment, due 

 to not thoroughly cleaning the vessels used. Sometimes acid juice i§ neutral 

 ized by the addition of a handful of wood ashes to the barrel and then stirred, 

 but this produces a flat cider without color. When fermentation is active, a 

 charactistic brownish foam rises to the surface ; otherwise, there will be a white 

 scum, which is a bad sign. 



After 10 or 15 days, fermentation ceases. The liquor has become clear, 

 the dregs settling to the bottom or rising to the surface, and the cider shows a 

 specific gravity of 1015 to 1020. This is the time to draw it off by a siphon or 

 by a spigot sufficiently above the bottom not to disturb the dregs. The cider 

 is now run into a clean barrel, where it undergoes a second fermentation. 

 When this ceases, indicated by the absence of further bubles of carbonic acid 

 gas, the barrel should be completely closed until the time arrives for using the 

 cider. Cider is preserved well enough in barrels when they are completely full,. 



