256 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



to arrest any subsequent tendency of the liquid to change, 

 draw the cider into this and bung tightly to exclude the air. 

 The addition of charcoal, raisins, mustard seed or fresh meat 

 produces the same effect as the ignited sulphur. After 

 standing two or three months, closely confined, and in a cool 

 place, it may be drawn off and tightly bottled for use. Its 

 long preservation and improvement will depend on its being 

 kept cool and well corked. In addition to its possessing a 

 small proportion of alcohol, it then contains large quantities 

 of carbonic acid gas, which occasions its rapid effervescence 

 when uncorked, and gives to it that peculiarly pungent and 

 agreeable flavor, so highly relished in the best specimens of 

 the Newark cider. 



Vinegar. If the cider be allowed to remain in the cask 

 in which it is first placed, and exposed to a warm temperature, 

 it continues greedily to absorb oxygen, and quickly under- 

 goes another fermentation, called the acetic, by which it is 

 converted into vinegar. If intended solely for this purpose, 

 the best and richest fruits give the strongest, best-flavored 

 and soundest (most reliable) vinegar. When it has acquired 

 its perfection, the vinegar should be kept air-tight and at a 

 low temperature. 



Best varieties of apples for cultivation. Almost every 

 section of the apple-growing regions of America, has a 

 greater or less variety peculiar to itself ; and their valuable 

 properties appear more fully developed in these localities 

 than when removed to others. Such should of course be 

 retained when of extraordinary excellence. There are some, 

 however, which are of more general cultivation, cosmopolites 

 throughout the apple climates, of fine quality, and possess- 

 ing all the excellence of which the genus is capable. Thirty 

 different kinds for each section or State will probably include 

 all which it is desirable to cultivate, and for any one location 

 perhaps twenty is sufficient. I mention below, the names 

 of 30 standard varieties, all of which are now in successful 

 cultivation in different parts of the United States and Canada. 

 They are described by Downing, in his late work on the 

 fruit trees of America, 1845. 



Summer Apples. Early Harvest, Red Astracan, Large 

 Yellow Bough, Williams' Favorite. 



Autumn Apples. Golden Sweet, Fall Pippin, Graven- 

 stein, Jersey Sweeting, Pumpkin Russet (by some, the 

 Bellebonne), and Rambo. 



Winter Apples. Westfield Seek-no-farther, Baldwin, 



