70 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



lias been paid to orchards. This he believes to be owing to the want of a due proportion of 

 the peculiar acid which is found in the greatest quantity in the wild fruit, and suggests 

 that it may be expedient to mix a certain quantity of the crab-apples with the fruit before it 

 is crushed. 



2. The best time of the year for malting cider. As Mr. Knight recommends the fruit to 

 be perfectly ripe, even mellow, before it is crushed, the process of making cider, if this 

 course is adopted, can only happen late in the autumn. As it is difficult, also, to manage 

 the fermentation of the liquor in warm weather, it is better to defer the making of cider to 

 as late a period as possible ; if, however, the liquor can be put into a cold cellar after the 

 first fermentation is over, the manufacture might commence earlier. It should be borne in 

 mind that the juice of unripe fruits ferments more quickly than that of those which are ripe. 



3. Fermentation of the juice. The researches of scientific men, although very elaborate, 

 have done very little in throwing light upon the nature of fermentation : it appears to par- 

 take, in a measure, of the vital principle, of the phenomena attending which we know 

 nothing. Many curious and interesting facts have been discovered during the investigation, 

 but none of which appear to be of much use in the making of cider. There are three kinds 

 of fermentation, or rather there are some products which pass regularly through three 

 stages of fermentation namely, the vinous, the acetous, and the putrescent. Other sub- 

 stances pass at once to one or other of the latter stages ; gum and water turning to vinegar 

 without forming any spirit, and meat at once putrefying. It is not desirable that the vinous 

 fermentation should be complete in the manufacture of cider, in which case all the sugar of 

 the apple would be converted into spirit ; this never does happen without a portion of vinegar 

 being also formed, the acetous fermentation going on conjointly with the vinous ; as when 

 cider frets a great deal, it may be very strong, but is comparatively of little value, having 

 lost all its richness, and become sour. The vinous fermentation stops naturally before it has 

 run its course, and it is the object of the maker to avail himself of this property in the 

 liquor, and to endeavor to prevent any secondary fermentation taking place ; the number of 

 schemes which have been suggested to prevent this shows that it is the most important 

 point to be attended to in the manufacture of good cider. Mr. Booker is of the opinion that 

 a hundred-gallon cask is much better than one larger, and that the liquor is not only more 

 easily managed, but more likely to be good ; it may be that cider in large casks becomes 

 stronger, but it is not so frequently rich as in small hogsheads. Although it may not be ap- 

 parent, fermentation commences as soon as the juice is expressed from the fruit ; and the 

 sooner the cask is filled and allowed to remain quiet, the more regular and certain will be 

 the process. What should we think of the brewer who, while his beer was working, brewed 

 another quantity, and added the raw wort to the first ? Yet this is constantly done in fill- 

 ing a large cask with cider ; or even worse, for the apple-juice is added cold, whereas the 

 wort might be mixed with the beer while warm. It would be greatly better to keep the 

 liquor in open tubs, till enough be obtained to fill the cask, and then to put it together at 

 once. The application of cold will check fermentation immediately. "I have seen liquor 

 in a state of froth boiling out of a large jar, suddenly reduced to a state of quiescence, by 

 pumping water upon the side. This fact induced me to cause an experiment to be tried 

 during a very bad season for the cider-making, the weather being very warm : a cask of 

 juice was rolled into a brook of cold water, and sunk by stones attached to it ; it remained 

 in that position till nearly Christmas, and was much better than any other made that year. 

 Perfect stillness is very desirable, as motion is found to excite the acetous fermentation. A 

 bottle of wine attached to the sail of a windmill in motion, was, after three days, converted 

 into vinegar, although closely corked. When a second fermentation does take place in cider, 

 there is very little hope of its being rich and good. In such case, I should recommend its 

 being drawn out into tubs, exposed to the cold as much as possible, and, after being thus 

 flattened, put back into the cask, at the same time well stirring up the whites of fifteen or 

 twenty eggs, previously mixed up with a portion of the liquor ; if this succeeds in fining it, 

 which probably it will, it may then be racked into a clean cask, and closed as much as pos- 

 sible from the air. It is probable that a great deal of mischief is caused by some principle 

 of fermentation remaining in the cask ; this might be prevented by well scalding the casks 



