CONCERNING CIDER 



BY THE EDITOR 



MANY people would be as ashamed to acknowledge 

 their preference of cider before claret as they would 

 be to express their failure to appreciate decomposed 

 game, caviare, George Meredith, or other objects 

 which are supposed to be but with difficulty compre- 

 hended by "the general." But, in truth, "although 

 there is no Liquor, Drink, nor Diet alike pleasant to 

 all . . . , yet is there not any drink known to us so 

 generally palatable as Cider ; for you may make it sute 

 almost with any humourous Drinker: It may be made 

 luscious; by addition of a good quantity of sweet Apples 

 in the first operation; pleasant, being made with Pippins 

 or Gennet-royles only ; racy, poignant, oyly, spicy, with 

 the Redstreak, and several other sorts of Fruits, even 

 as, the operator pleases. And it satisfies thirst, if not 

 too stale, more than any other usual Drink whatsoever." 

 The great objection which most people have to the use 

 of cider at their tables is that at which Mrs Glasse 

 scoffed so amusingly in her preface to " The Art of 

 Cookery " " but then it would not be French." For 

 between the well-made ciders of England and the great 

 majority of imported wines, the unprejudiced drinker 

 will rarely have much difficulty in choosing. 



The following figures, given by Mr Alfred H. Allen, 

 Public Analyst for the West Riding, indicate broadly 

 the proportions of alcohol (per cent, by volume) con- 

 tained in various beverages, each kind of which is, of 

 course, liable to a certain range of strength : 

 9 8 



