OF FRUIT TREES. 16? 



little inclined to tartness, wheat, managed as above, 

 (that is, boiled and hulled,) will cure it. The quan- 

 tity, when cider is quite tart, is half a peck to a 

 hogshead, or about a quart to one of our barrels. 

 Such are the directions of one cider maker whose 

 opinions are quoted in the abovementioned dic- 

 tionary. 



" Another writer says, when the apples are 

 ground they are not put immediately into the press, 

 but into wide tubs or vats, where the pumice 

 should be turned five or six times a day, to pre- 

 vent fermentation. This is done in order to give 

 the cider a fine colour. This is done in two days. 

 It is usual, says this cider maker, to dispose of all 

 the liquor in the same way and without distinction. 

 This is wrong, if there is any analogy, as there 

 must be, between cider and wine. Experience has 

 shown, that in making winei there is a great diffe- 

 rence between the first runnings from the press, 

 and those which are obtained by hard pressing; 

 and this difference is always in favour of the for- 

 mer. If the same be true of cider, we lose by our 

 common method the richest and choicest kinds. 



" When the pressing of the apples is finished, 

 the most careful makers of cider strain it through 

 a hair sieve, (or through sand,) to separate it 

 from the coarsest dregs. It must be then left to 

 itself till it has gone through the necessary fer- 

 mentation ; for this purpose some put it into 

 hogsheads, and others into great tubs or vats, 

 wide at top, and narrower at bottom, containing 

 from five to twenty hogsheads, or from twenty 

 to eighty barrels. In these vessels the heaviest 

 lees subside, and the lighter lees form a crust, 

 which, when it begins to crack and sink, gives 

 notice of the time to draw off and barrel the 

 cider. 



44 The usual time for this first fermentation is 

 from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. Some af- 



