604 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



3813. The ajjj)le-mill is an iron machine. Where iron-mills have been tried, this metal 

 has been found to be soluble in the acid of apples, to which it communicates a brown color 

 and an unpleasant taste. No combination has been ascertained to take place between 

 this acid and lead; but as the calx of this metal readily dissolves in, and communicates 

 an*extremely poisonous quality to, the acetous juice of the apple, it should never be 

 suffered to come into contact with the fruit or liquor. {Knight on the Apple and Pear. ) 



3814. Whether the pommage should immediately of ter grinding be conveyed to the press, 

 there to be formed into a kind of cake, or what is called the cheese ; or whether it should 

 remain some time in that state before pressing, ciderists have not agreed. Some say it 

 should be pressed immediately after grinding ; others conceive it best to suffer it to 

 remain in the grinding-trough, or in vats employed for the purpose, for twenty-four 

 hours, or even two days, that it may acquire not only a redness of color, but also that 

 it may form an extract with the rind and kernels. Both extremes are, Crocker thinks, 

 wrong. There is an analogy, he says, between the making of cider from apples, and 

 wine from grapes ; and the method which the wine-maker pursues ought to be followed 

 by the cider-maker. When the pulp of the grapes has lain some time in the vats, the 

 vintager thrusts his hand into the pulp, and takes some from the middle of the mass; 

 and when he perceives, by the smell, that the luscious sweetness is gone off, and that his 

 nose is affected with a slight piquancy, he immediately carries it to the press, and by a 

 light pressure expresses his prime juice. In like manner, should the ciderist determine 

 the time when his pulp should be carried to the press. If he carry it immediately from 

 the mill to the press, he might lose some small advantage which may be expected from 

 the rind and kernels, and his liquor may be of lower color than he might wish. If he 

 suffer it to remain too long unpressed, he will find to his cost that the acetous ferment- 

 ation will come on before the vinous is perfected, especially in theearly partof the cider- 

 making season. He will generally find that his pulp is in a fit state for pressing in 

 about twelve or sixteen hours. If he must of necessity keep it in that state longer, he 

 will find a sensible heat therein, which will engender a premature fermentation ; and 

 he must not delay turning it over, thereby to expose the middle of the mass to the in- 

 fluence of the atmosphere. Knight's opinion is, liowever, that it should remain twenty- 

 four hours before it is taken to the press. 



3815. The pommage being carried to the jiress, and a square cake or cheese made of it, 

 by placing very clean sweet straw or reed between the various layers of pommage ; or 

 by putting the same into the hair-cloths, and placing them one on another. It is of 

 importance that the straw or weed be sweet, and perfectly free from any fustiness. lest 

 the cider be impregnated therewith. Particular care ought also to be taken to keep 

 hair-cloths sweet, by frequently washing and drying, or the ill effects of their acidity 

 will be communicated to the cider. To this cake or cheese, after standing awhile, a 

 slight pressure is at first to be given, which must be gradually increased until all the 

 must or juice is expressed ; after which, this juice must be strained through a coarse 

 hair-sieve, to keep back the gross feculencies of the juice, and be put into proper vessels. 

 These vessels may be either open vats or close casks ; but as, in the time of a plentiful 

 crop of apples, a number of open vats may by the ciderest be considered an incumbrance 

 in his cider-rooms, they should be generally carried immediately from the press to the 

 cask. Thus far, says Crocker, cider-making is a mere manual operation, performed with 

 very little skill in the operator ; but here it is that the great art of making good cider com- 

 mences ; nature soon begins to work a wonderful change in this foul-looking, turbid, 

 fulsome, and unwholesome fluid; and, by the process of fermentation alone, converts it 

 into a wholesome, vinous, salubrious, heart-cheering beverage. 



3816. Fermentation is an intestine motion of the parts of a fermentable body. This 

 motion, in the present case, is always accompanied with an evident ebullition, the bub- 

 bles rising to the surface, and there forming a scum or soft and spongy crust, over the 

 whole liquor. This crust is frequently raised and l)roken by the air as it disengages 

 itself from the liquor, and forces its way through it. This effect continues whilst the 



