OF FRUIT TREES. 155 



" A friend directs cider to be bottled in July, to 

 fill the bottles within two inches of the top, letting 

 them stand twelve hours open before corking. Use 

 strong porter bottles, and the best velvet corks. 

 The bottling should be done in clear weather. 



" For the following communication on the mak- 

 ing and fining of cider, the editor is indebted to Jo- 

 seph Cooper, esquire, of New Jersey. 



" ' Cider is an article of domestick manufacture, 

 which is, in my opinion, worse managed than 

 any in our country : perhaps the better way to 

 correct errours is to point out some of the princi- 

 pal ones, and then to recommend better plans. 



" ' Apples are commonly collected when wet, 

 and thrown into a heap, exposed to sun and rain, 

 until a sourness pervades the whole mass, then 

 ground, and for want of a trough or other vessels 

 sufficient to hold a cheese at a time, the pumice is 

 put on the press as fast as ground ; and a large 

 cheese is made, which requires so much time to 

 finish and press off, that a fermentatian comes on 

 in the cheese before all the juice is out ; and cer- 

 tain it is, that a small quantity of the juice pressed 

 out after fermentation comes on, will spoil the 

 product of a whole cheese, if mixed therewith. 

 When either of the above errours will spoil cider, 

 we need not wonder at the effect of a combina- 

 tion of the whole, as frequently happens. As I 

 have very often exported cider to the West In- 

 dies, and to Europe, and also sold it to others 

 for the same purpose, without even hearing of 

 any spoiling; and as it is my wish to make the 

 productions of our country as useful as possible, 

 I will give an account of my method of making 

 this valuable liquor. 



" ' I gather the apples when dry, put them on a 

 floor under cover, and have a trough large enough 

 to hold a cheese at once, and when the weather 

 is warm, I grind them late in the evening, spread- 



