164 CJ'DER, 



be bad for cider. They spoil cider and cider spoil* 

 beer. New vessels made of seasoned oak do well ; 

 but those which have been used do better. The re- 

 ligious society mentioned above, clean casks by taking 

 them from the cellar as soon as convenient after the 

 cider is out, (reserving the lees for stilling,) and rinse 

 each clean first with a pailful of scalding water, then 

 with cold, leaving the casks with the bungs down for 

 a day or two. They are then bunged tight and re- 

 turned to the cellar, or some convenient place proper 

 for their reception. Previous to filling the casks for 

 the season, they are scalded and rinsed as above men- 

 tioned." The society of shakers, whose cider has ob- 

 tained such celebrity that it commands in the market 

 ten dollars per barrel, practice the following methods 

 The grinding trough being large enough to contain a 

 whole cheese, "the pomace is allowed to remain over 

 night before pressing ; which contributes much, both 

 to the colour and quantity of the cider. In the morn- 

 ing it is pressed out gradually and put into casks 

 through straw or rather a coarse sieve placed within* 

 the tunnel ; it is conveyed immediately to a cool eel-* 

 )ar, leaving out the bungs till the fermentation chiefly 

 subsides, when the bung is driven in tight, leaving a 

 small spiggot vent a while longer to check the press- 

 ure, which is finally closed air tight. About the first 

 of January, they will rack it off free from the lees in- 

 to clean casks. Having put in three or four pails full 

 of cider, a match of brimstone is burnt in the cask un- 

 til the cider is well impregnated with the fume, and 

 the cask is then filled. After this process they add 

 from one to three gallons of spirit distilled from the 

 cider lees, to one hogshead ; fill up the cask with ci- 

 der, and bung it down air tight, and let it remain till 

 it becomes of mature age. Cider managed in this 

 way, says Mr. Winkley, one of their members, will 

 keep pleasant for years. He would not, however, be 



