Ch. XXXI.] ORCHARDS— CIDER AND PERRY. 365 



(luce a further diminution in the strength of the cider ; and when every 

 symptom of fret is wholly subsided, it is then considered fit for market, or, 

 generally speaking, in the following months of March or April. 



'' The dregs are always filtered through brown canvass bags holding 

 three or four gallons each ; but as the union between the pulp and the 

 liquor is found to be very close, a separation is effected by mixing about 

 half a pint of bullock's, or any other iVesh blood, with about six or eight 

 gallons of the dregs. This being well beaten up, divides the jelly of the 

 pulp, and the liquor running clear off is mixed with the other cider, and is 

 always found to contribute to the restraint of the further fermentation. 



" To complete the fining of the cider, a pound of isinglass, first soaked 

 for ten or twelve hours in cold water, is afterwards dissolved in about five 

 gallons of eider, and well incorporated with a whisk. About a quart of this 

 is sufficient for a hogshead of cider, and with which it must be stirred and 

 mixed in the cask*." 



We should say, however, from our own experience, that the whites of a 

 dozen eggs, beat up along with the shells in a quart of the liquor, will 

 perform the operation with more certainty. The mixture should be put in 

 at the bung-hole, and well stirred round witli a cleft stick ; and if to this 

 be added a moderate quantity of sugar-candy, with about a gallon of good 

 brandy to a hogshead, the quality of the liquor will be much improved. This, 

 however, can only be recommended when the cider is intended for private use, 

 as the price of the brandy will not admit of the expense for public sale ; but 

 a few ounces of pounded ginger is not exposed to the same objection, while 

 it partly corrects the flatulence of the beverage, which should never be 

 drunk until it is at least twelve months old. At two years old it is in the 

 best state to bottle — the month of March being the best period for the 

 operation — after which it will become brisk and sparkling in the following 

 summer ; and, if it possess much richness, — like those celebrated growths 

 known as the "cocagee" and the " stire," it will remain, with little percep- 

 tible change, during twenty or thirty years, or as long as the cork duly 

 performs its office. Should the colour be too dark to please the delicacy 

 of the purchasers, a quart of milk added to the finings will materially 

 reduce its cloudiness. 



PERRY. 



With regard to the manufacture of perrtj, it is in all respects so nearly 

 similar to that of cider, that no further description is necessary. The pears 

 which are preferred for the purpose require an assemblage of qualities 

 which Mr. Knight tells us will be rarely found in the same fruit. " It 

 should contain a large portion of sugar, or its juice can never possess 

 sufficient strength ; and, unless it be at the same time extremely astringent, 

 the liquor produced from it will become acetous whenever it ceases to be 

 sweet : in the latter state it will agree with fev/ constitutions ; in the former 

 with none." 



" The juice of the best perry-pears is so harsh and rough as to cause a 

 long-continued heat and irritation in the throat when the fruit is attempted 

 to be eaten ; yet, by being simply pressed from the pulp, it becomes rich 

 and sweet, without more roughness than is agreeable to every palate." 



This circumstance appears extraordinary, yet the quality of astringency 

 is so necessary to the pear, that Mr. Knight says " lie has never known a 



* Devonshire Report, p. 240. Bone-isinglas.s,or jelly made from havtshorn shavings, 

 is, however, preferable to tish-isinglass ; besides being much cheaper. 



