OF FRUIT TREES. 157 



" ' After scouring the casks, I again rinse them, 

 and I find advantage from burning a match of sul- 

 phur suspended in the cask by a wire, after putting 

 in two or three buckets of cider. A convenient 

 way to perform this process is to have a long taper- 

 ing bung, so as that between the two ends it will 

 fit any hole ; to the small end of this bung drive in 

 a wire with a hooked end to hold the match. If 

 the cider stands a week or more after racking, pre- 

 viously to being put away in the cellar I rack it 

 again, rinsing the casks, but not with gravel, and 

 remove them to the cellar. The late made cider 

 I put in the cellar immediately after, or before the 

 first racking, according as the weather may happen 

 to be. The cider intended to be kept till summer, 

 I rack in clear, cool weather, in the latter end of 

 Februarv or beginning of March ; the casks must 

 be kept "full, and bunged as tight as possible.' 



" Mr. Cooper fines with the isinglass jelly, men- 

 tioned above ; but in case the liquor should not fine 

 in ten days, he directs to rack it again, and repeat 

 the fining as before, but says it is best to rack it, 

 whether fine or not, in ten or twelve days, lest the 

 sediment should rise, which often happens. Mr. 

 Cooper adds, ' The foregoing operation should be 

 performed previously to the apples being in bloom, 

 but I have succeeded best in the winter during 

 steady cool weather. I have likewise had good 

 success in fining cider directly from the press; 

 when this is done, I set the casks with one head 

 out, but covered, put in taps, and let them remain 

 in a cool place, properly fixed for drawing, when 

 the fermentation ceases, arid the scum begins to 

 crack. I take it o!F carefully with a skimmer, and 

 draw it from the sediment. If not sufficiently fine 

 before the middle of winter, I fine it again, as 

 above.'" 



If the above recited details do not embrace com- 

 pletely the entire subject of cider-making, the fol- 



