176 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



kept sweet and unfermented by heating it to a temperature of 160 

 degrees F., and holding it there for thirty minutes; then sealing it 

 up tight in bottles or casks, and storing it in a cool place. Boiled 

 cider made in the good old-fashioned way by reducing to one-fifth 

 by boiling, and then canned, makes an excellent article for culinary 

 purposes, for making apple butter, apple sauce, or for use in apple or 

 mince pies. It also has a commercial value. 



While the aim of the farmer should be to supply an abundance 

 of fruit for his own family, he should also be able to offer to the out- 

 side world a liberal surplus. The apple orchard will often bring him 

 better returns for his outlay than any other portion of his farm, acre 

 for acre. The product of a single tree will sometimes sell for $10 or 

 more, and fifty such trees can be grown on an acre of land. Though 

 we may not always count on such large results, we may safely expect 

 the orchard to do its full duty one year with another, especially if we 

 first do our duty by it. (F. B. 113.) 



Making Cider Vinegar at Home. The making of cider vinegar 

 is a familiar operation in almost every farm home. The final product 

 is a necessity on every table, the small apples from which it is usually 

 made are of practically no value for other purposes, the labor and 

 expense of picking them up and pressing them are slight, and from 

 the time the cider is in the barrel Nature does the work. Thus the 

 process appears a simple one, easy to start, and self-operated to its 

 termination in a salable commodity; so that the work-burdened 

 farmer, with several barrels of cider in his cellar, may, in his few 

 moments of leisure, think with pleasure of this farm operation which 

 will bring him profit without further outlay of strength or money. 



Yet vinegar is a food product and, as such, has come under the 

 eye of the law, which says that to be legally salable the finished 

 goods must meet certain requirements. Cider vinegar must contain 

 a certain per cent of acetic acid and also of cider vinegar solids be- 

 fore it can be lawfully sold as pure cider vinegar, and frequently 

 farmers who have made vinegar from pure apple juice only, and who 

 have stored this under what they believe to be proper conditions for 

 the proper length of time, find that their product falls short in one 

 requirement or the other. Thus, without fraudulent intent or at- 

 tempt at adulteration or dilution, the home-made vinegar falls under 

 suspicion. 



Among the conditions which may produce vinegar below stand- 

 ard are these: (1) The juice may be poor to start with because made 

 from varieties of apples low in sugar, from green apples or from over- 

 ripe or decayed apples; or the juice may be watered either directly or 

 by watering the pomace and pressing a second time. ^ (2) The fer- 

 mentation processes may be delayed or disturbed by using dirty fruit 

 or unclean barrels, thus affording entrance to undesirable organisms 

 and causing the wrong kind of fermentation ; the temperature may 

 be too low to insure the necessary activity of favorable organisms ; or 

 air may be excluded by filling the barrels too full or putting the 

 bung in too tight so that the bacteria can not live and work. (3) 

 The acetic acid may disappear after its formation, destructive fer- 



