HORTICULTURE 179 



mentation being encouraged by leaving the bung-hole of the barrel 

 open or the barrel only partially full. Briefly summarized, the 

 method to be employed for the manufacture of good vinegar at 

 home, without the use of generators, is this : Use sound, ripe apples, 

 picked or picked up before they have become dirty, if possible, other- 

 wise washed. Observe the ordinary precautions to secure cleanliness 

 in grinding and pressing, and discard all juice from second pressings. 

 If possible, let the juice stand in some large receptacle for a few days 

 to settle, then draw off the clear portion into well-cleaned barrels 

 which have been treated with steam or boiling water, filling them 

 only two-thirds or three-fourths full. Leave the bung out, but put in 

 a loose plug of cotton to decrease evaporation and to prevent the en- 

 trance of dirt. If these barrels are stored in ordinary cellars, where 

 the temperature does not go below 50 or 45 F., the alcoholic fer- 

 mentation will be complete in about six months ; but by having the 

 storage room at a temperature of 65 or 70 the time can be consider- 

 ably shortened, and the addition of Fleischmann's compressed yeast 

 or its equivalent at the rate of one cake to five gallons of juice may 

 reduce the time to three months or less. Use a little water to thor- 

 oughly disintegrate the yeast cake before adding it to the juice. The 

 temperature should not go above 70 for any length of time, to 

 avoid loss of the alcohol by evaporation. 



After the sugar has all disappeared from the juice, that is, when 

 the cider has entirely ceased "working" as revealed by the absence of 

 gas bubbles, draw off the clear portion of the cider, rinse out the 

 barrel, replace the liquid and add two to four quarts of good vinegar 

 containing some "mother," and place at a temperature of 65 to 75 

 F. The acetic fermentation may be complete in three months or 

 may take 18 months according to the conditions under which it is 

 carried on ; or if stored in cool cellars may take two years or more. 

 If the alcoholic fermentation be carried on in the cool cellar and the 

 barrel be then taken to a warmer place, as outdoors during the sum- 

 mer, the time of vinegar formation may be reduced from that given 

 above to 15 or 18 months. Where the alcoholic fermention is 

 hastened by warm temperature storage and the use of yeast and the 

 acetic fermention favored by warmth and are good vinegar "start," it 

 is possible to produce good merchantable vinegar in casks in 6 to 12 

 months. 



When the acetic fermentation has gone far enough to produce 

 4.5 to 5 per cent of acetic acid, the barrels should be made as full 

 as possible and tightly corked in order to prevent destructive changes 

 and consequent deterioration of the vinegar. (N. Y. E. S. B. 258.) 



EVAPORATION OF APPLES. 



The utilization of the poorer grades of fruit is frequently an im- 

 portant matter to the grower. That portion of a crop which is of too 

 low grade to market in the ordinary way can often be made to pay a 

 large part, at least, of the expense of maintaining the orchard or fruit 

 plantation if it is converted into some other form or handled in some 

 way other than that practiced with the better grades. In some of the 

 apple-growing districts the evaporating industry has kept pace with 



