164 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



bottom of the vat is a tap, through which a consi* 

 derable quantity of vinous juice will run without 

 pressing. 



" ' This is the best cider, and I barrel it by itself. 

 I then press the rest, and barrel it separately. 

 Thus I have six qualities from my three assortments 

 of apples.'* 



" Another English writer says, ' When your ap- 

 ples are fit for gathering, it is essential to choose 

 dry weather, for water is a bad ingredient in all 

 vinous liquors, and gather it by hand. This is diffi- 

 cult in extensive orchards and on high trees, but it 

 is of great advantage, and quits cost. You can 

 choose your apples, and leave those that are not 

 ripe : you save your fruit from bruises, and your 

 trees from damage. The gathering by hand, espe- 

 cially for winter fruit, is so essential, that it cannot 

 be dispensed with. These who plead want of time, 

 may be answered, that it would be more beneficial 

 to them to have only half the quantity of good 

 cider, than the whole of indiffe/ont. 



" ' But for those who are too lazy to adopt this 

 practice, the best method is to cover the ground 

 with a sufficient thickness of straw to save the 

 apples in their fall, and to put blankets upon the 

 straw; then to shake the boughs gently, removing 

 the apples under the tree at every shaking, that 

 they may not be bruised by those which after- 

 wards fall.' 



" Now, we ask, whether this sort of care is with 

 us ever taken ? and whether it is not as well worth 

 the pains in this country as in England? Would 

 not half the quantity of excellent cider go as far in 



" * Would it not be worth tbe pains of our farmers to keep the 

 first runnings of the press separate, and use or sell it as cider of 

 superiour quality ? There can be no doubt of the correctness of 

 this Herefordshire farmer's remarks. He must have had the ad- 

 vantage of experience^' 



