606 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURlE. Part III. 



inches long and two broad ; let it be dipped into melted brimstone : when this match is 

 dry, let it be lighted, and suspended from the bung of a cask (in which there are a few 

 gallons of cider) until it be burnt out. The cask must remain stopped for an hour or 

 more, and be then rolled to and fro, to incorporate the fumes of the match with the cider ; 

 after which it may be filled. If the stumming be designed only to suppress some slight, 

 improper fermentation, the brimstone-match is sufficient ; but if it be required to give 

 any additional flavor to the cider, some powdered ginger, cloves, or cinnamon, &c, may 

 be strewed on the match when it is made. The burning these ingredients with the sul- 

 phur will convey somewhat of their fragrance to the whole cask of cider ; but to do it to 

 the best advantage, it must be performed as soon as the vinous fermentation is fully 

 perfected. 



3821. Cider is generally in the best state to he put into the bottle at two years old, where 

 it will soon become brisk and sparkling ; and if it possesses much richness, it will remain 

 with scarcely any sensible change during twenty or thirty years, or as long as the cork 

 duly performs its office. 



3822. In making cider for the common use of the farm-house, few of the foregoing rules 

 are attended to. The flavor of the liquor is here a secondary consideration with the far- 

 mer, whose first object must be to obtain a large quantity at a small expense. The apples 

 are usually ground as soon as they become moderately ripe ; and the juice is either racked 

 off at once as soon as it becomes bright, or more frequently conveyed from the press im- 

 mediately to the cellar. A violent fermentation soon commences, and continues until 

 nearly the whole of the saccharine part is decomposed. The casks are filled up and 

 stopped early in the succeeding spring, and no further attention is either paid or required. 

 The liquor thus prepared may be kept from two to five or six years in the cask, accord- 

 ing to its strength. It is generally harsh and rough, but rarely acetous ; and in this 

 state, it is usually supposed to be preferred by the farmers and peasantry. When it has 

 become extremely thin and harsh by excess of fermentation, the addition of a small quan- 

 tity of bruised wheat, or slices of toasted bread, or any other farinaceous substance, will 

 much diminish its disposition to become sour. 



3823. The produce of cider or perry by the acre, can only be guessed at, by first ascer- 

 taining the number of trees. From an orchard of trees, in full bearing, half a hogshead 

 of cider may, in seasons ordinarily favorable, be expected from the fruit of each tree. As 

 the number of trees on the acre varies from ten to forty, the quantity of cider must vary 

 in the same proportion, that is, from five to twenty hogsheads. Pear-trees, in equally 

 good bearing, yield fully one-third more liquor : therefore, although the liquor extracted 

 from pears sells at a lower price than that produced from apples, yet the value by the 

 acre, when the number of trees is the same, is nearly on a par. 



Sect. VI. Of the Machinery and Utensils necessary for Cider making. 



3824. The machinery of the common ciderist, includes the mill-house, mill, ptress, cloth, 

 vat, and cask, with their appurtenances. 



3825. Marshal, in The Rural Economy of Gloucestershire, remarks, that a mill-house, 

 on an orchard-farm, is as necessary as a barn. It is generally one end of an out-build- 

 in"' ; or, perhaps, an open shed, under which straw or small implements are occasionally 

 laid up. The smallest dimensions, to render it any way convenient, are twenty -four feet 

 by twenty ; a floor thrown over it, at seven feet high ; a door in the middle of the 

 front, and a window opposite ; with the mill on one side, the press on the other side of the 

 window ; as much room being left in front, towards the door, for fruit and utensils, as the 

 nature of the mill and the press will allow. The utensils belonging to a mill-house are 

 few : the fruit is brought in carts or baskets, and the liquor carried out in pails. 



3826. Of the common cider mill {fig. 462.), there JMl^ .^ 



are several varieties formed on the principles of the 463 '"'''ItHl V= -=J!ailijaBi|a^ 



bark mills of tanners. The circle enclosed by the jj^^nmm ^^^3^ ^-^^_.^^^^^S^ 



trough is sometimes divided into compartments for /^^^^iBm ^ liHwrn 

 containing different varieties of the same fruit f^^^^Hm! / ,aW'^^^**s>..^--- -*Hi^] 

 (.^^.463.) The size of the runner varies from two K^^^^M agg^\y^^; ^^^^^]I^ d^^^| 

 and a half to four and a half feet diameter, and from ^HHKe*MM^^^^^^^^^^^^^^=^^^| i 

 nine to twelve inches in thickness; which, in gene- ^s^^^m^^^^^'^^'^ ^^ ^.J^S^ 



ral, is even, like that of a grindstone, not varying, "" ^^JMBJaiil l l l lfji i^ _^^ ^,r'!sr'^^^^^~ 



like that of a millstone : the weight one or two tons. ^ 

 The bottom of the chace is somewhat wider than the runner, that this may run freely.! iThe inner side 

 rises perpendicularly, but the outer side spreads, so as to make the top of the trough some six or eight 

 inches wider than the bottom : to give freedom to the runner, and room to scatter in the fruit, stir it up 

 while grinding, and take out the ground matter. The depth, nine or ten inches. The outer rim of the 

 trough is three or four inches wide ; and the diameter of the inner circle, which the trough circumscribes, 

 from four and a half to five feet, according to the size of the mill. This is sometimes raised by a table of 

 thick plank fixed upon the stone, with a curb of wood, lessening to an angle, fixed upon the circumference 

 of the trough, making the whole depth of the trough about equal to its width at the bottom. This lessens 

 thequantity of the stone; and the plank upon the centre answers other purposes. The entire bed of a 

 middle-sized mill is about nine feet, some ten, and some few twelve, feet in diameter ; the whole being 

 composed of two, three, or four stones, cramped together as one ; and worked, or at least finished, after 

 they are cramped together. The best stones are raised in the forest of Dean : they are mostly a dark- 

 reddish gritstone (non-calcareouis), working with sufficient freedom, yet sutficicntly hard for this intention. 



