170 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



continuance of the vinous fermentation is- 

 as uncertain as its beginning. Liquor which has 

 been agitated by transportation will pass through 

 it perhaps the same day* But other liquors, less 

 agitated, seldom go through it under two or three 

 days, arid sometimes will continue in fermentation 

 five or six days. With regard to ascertaining the 

 degree of fermentation which cider has undergone^ 

 whether not [;reat enough, or exactly right, or too 

 great, I have not been able,' says this writer, ' to 

 collect any fixed notions on the subject. It is a 

 subject to which most cider makers pay little or 

 no attention. It is true, the manufacturers of sweet 

 cider pay some attention to fermentation. Their 

 whole art consists not in regulating, but in checking 

 the fermentation as far as possible. 



" ' Fermentation operates differently on different 

 ciders. Thus that which is made of ripe fruit 

 throws up a gross spume or froth, like malt liquors, 

 forming a brown crust. The riper the fruit, the 

 more of this brown froth or scum is thrown up. 



"'Having remained some days on the lees, it is 

 drawn off into fresh casks. Some men wait, before 

 they rack their cider, till the brown crust begins to 

 crack. Others prefer to rack before the fermenta- 

 tion is entirely over. The makers of perry rack it 

 off when it has done hissing. The manufacturers 

 of sweet liquors will not permit them even to hiss. 

 They keep up the process of racking, which certain- 

 ly checks the fermentation. 



" ' The fresh casks into which cider has been rack 

 ed, are never quite filled. This is general practice. 

 They are left short about a pailful, so that you 

 can just touch the liquor with the end of your fin- 

 ger/ 



" 6 The number of rackings depends on the state of 

 the liquor. If the fresh fermentation, which most- 

 ly commences after die racking, be violent, it is un- 

 derstood generally that the liquor should be racked 



