CONCERNING CIDER 103 



of Cornwall the district of St Keverne, Porthoustock, 

 and Coverack I arrived by chance at a little pig- 

 occupied farmyard, in which was a tree of laurel fully 

 sixteen yards across. It was not, however, the tree 

 itself which arrested my attention, but a very primitive 

 machine connected therewith, a machine which seemed 

 to suggest the Age of Stone Resting with one end on 

 the fork of the laurel tree, and with the other on an 

 adjacent wall, was a long, irregular beam, in the centre 

 of which was a sort of nut, in which fitted loosely an 

 iron pivot attached to an upright pole. At the lower 

 end of this upright was another pivot, which was able 

 to be revolved in a hole in a solid cylinder of granite, 

 about eighteen inches in diameter. This cylinder occu- 

 pied the centre of a roughly circular trough, also of 

 granite, about two yards across and about two feet in 

 depth, the sides of which sloped inwards. At about 

 six inches from the lower end of the upright post was 

 attached a cross-bar, which formed the axle of a great 

 dome-shaped granite wheel, resting with its furrowed 

 edge on the floor of the basin. On holding the outer 

 end of this axle, and walking in the circular path which 

 its extremity mapped out, I was able with a little effort 

 to cause the upright pole to revolve on its axis and the 

 great wheel to travel around the trough, then half-full 

 of offensively odorous water, loaded with decomposing 

 leaves and other organic materials. Of course this was 

 a cider-mill, and by similar, though not usually quite so 

 primitive, appliances apples are still ground by the bulk 

 of farmers who make cider to-day. Close by was a 

 cider-press in keeping with the mill. This was simply 

 a thick disc of granite about nine inches thick and five 

 feet in diameter, with, near its edge, a two-inch ditch 

 terminating at one point in a sort of spout. On this 

 base the cheese of bruised apples would be placed, 

 pressure being applied by means of some great stone 



