Book II, MANUFACTURE OF CIDER. 603 



crush them after they have been thinly spread for a few days on a dry boarded floor. 

 Many of the Herefordshire growers carry them direct from the tree to the crushing mill. 



Sect. V, Of the Manufacture of Cider, 



3809. Cider is commonlr/ manufactured bi/ the grower of the fruit, though it would certainly 

 be better for the public if it were made a distinct branch of business like brewing or distill- 

 ing. *< The true way to have excellent cider," Marshal observes, "is to dispose of the 

 fruit to professional cider makers. The principal part of the prime cider, sold in London 

 and elsewhere, is manufactured by professional men ; by men who make a business of 

 manufacturing and rectifying cider ; even as distillers, rectifiers of spirit, and brewers, 

 follow their businesses or professions ; and like them too conduct their operations, more 

 or less, on scientific principles." (Rev. of Agr. Rep. vol. ii. p. 294.) It is allowed on 

 all hands that the operation is most slovenly performed by the farmer, and that it is very 

 difficult to procure this liquor in good quality. The operation of cider making is as 

 simple as that of wine making or brewing, and will be perfectly understood from the 

 following directions, chiefly drawn from thctreatises of Crocker and Knight, that any 

 person possessing an orchard, or a few hedge-row fruit trees, may make a supply for'his 

 own use. The first business is the gathering and preparation of the fruit; the se- 

 cond, grinding and pressing ; and the last, fermenting and bottling. 



3810. In gathering cider apples, care should be taken that they be thoroughly ripe 

 before they are taken from the tree ; otherwise the cider will be of a rough harsh taste, 

 in spite of all the endeavors of the operator. It is observed by Crocker, in his 

 tract on The Art of Making and Managing Cider, that the most certain indications of 

 the ripeness of apples, is the fragrance of their smell, and their spontaneously drop- 

 ping from the trees. When they are in this state of maturity, in a dry day, the limbs 

 may, he says, be slightly shaken, and partly disburdened of their golden store ; thus 

 taking such apples only as are ripe, and leaving the unripe longer on the trees, that they 

 may also acquire a due degree of maturity. It may not, he thinks, be amiss to make 

 three gatherings of the crop, keeping each by itself. The latter gathering, as well as 

 wind-falls, can however only be employed in making inferior cider : the prime cider 

 must be drawn from the former gatherings. 



3811. On the proper mixture of fruits, or rather on their proper separation, the merit 

 of cider will always greatly depend. Those whose rinds and pulp are tinged with 

 green, or red without any mixture of yellow, as that color will disappear in the first 

 stages of fermentation, should be carefully kept apart from such as are yellow, or yellow 

 intermixed with red. The latter kinds, which should remain on the trees till ripe 

 enough to fall without being much shaken, are alone capable of making fine cider. 

 Each kind should be collected separately, as noticed above, and kept till it becomes 

 perfectly mellow. For this purpose, in the common practice of the countr}', they are 

 placed in heaps of ten inches or a foot thick, and exposed to the sun and air, and rain ; 

 not being ever coveted, except in very severe frosts. The strength and flavor of the 

 future liquor are increased by keeping the fruit under cover some time before it is ground ; 

 but unless a situation can be aflforded it, in which it is exposed to a free current of air, 

 and where it can be spread very thin, it is apt to contract an unpleasant smell, which 

 will much affect the cider produced from it. Few farms are provided with proper 

 buildings for this purpose on a large scale, and the improvement of the liquor will not 

 nearly pay the expense of erecting them. It may reasonably be supposed, that much 

 water is absorbed by the fruit in a rainy season ; but the quantity of juice yielded by 

 any given quantity of fruit will be found to diminish as it becomes more mellow, even in 

 very wet weather, provided it be ground when thoroughly dry. The advantages, there- 

 fore, of covering the fruit will probably be much less than may at first sight be expected. 

 No criterion appears to be known, by which the most proper point of maturity in the 

 fruit can be ascertained with accuracy; but it improves as long as it continues to ac- 

 quire a deeper shade of yellow. Each heap should be examined prior to its being 

 ground, and any decayed or green fruit carefully taken away. The expense of this 

 will be very small, and will be amply repaid by the excellence of the liquor, and the 

 ease with which too great a degree of fermentation may be prevented. (Crocker.) 



3812. In grinding the apples into pommage, several methods are practised ; but the two 

 most chiefly in use are by the bruising-stone with a circular trough (fg. 462.), and the 

 apple-mill. In the trough, the apples are thrown in and bruised by the motion of the 

 stone, as it is moved round by a horse, in the way that tanners grind bark. This is an 

 ancient method, and still in use in some parts of Devonshire ; and although it has its 

 inconveniences in bruising some apples too much and some too little, it is not without 

 its advocates in those parts of the country, the inhabitants of which allege that it bruises 

 the kernels of the fruit better than otiier machines. 



