54 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



they had gotien a great r<'|)uiaiion." He adds, 

 " ihe soli crab and white or red liorse-pear 

 excel llieiu and all oiliers known or t;poken ol in 

 oiher couniries. Ol' ihe red lu)rse-[)ear ol Ft-lion 

 or Longland, he says, '■ thai i( has a |)leasaiu niae- 

 cuHne rigor, especially in dry grounds, and has a 

 peculiar propeny lo overcome all Liasii;." Ol ihe 

 quality ol the Iruii he obseives, " such is ihe ellecl 

 whicli ihe austerity has on ihe mouth on itislmg the 

 hquor, that the rusiics declare it is as il the rool 

 were filed away ; and that neniier man nor beast 

 care to touch one ol' these pears, tho igh ever so 

 ripe." O. the pear called Ininy winter pear, which 

 grows about Rotf, m lh:il county, he observi s, 

 " that il is ol no use but lor cider ; that if a thiei 

 steal it, he would incur a t-peedy vengeance, il 

 being a lurious [lurger; but being joined willi well- 

 chosen crabs, and reset ved to a due maturity, be- 

 comes richer than good French wine ; but it drunk 

 belbre the time, it stupefies the rool of the mouth, 

 assaults the brain, and puro;es more violenily than 

 ■a Gdlenisi." Ol' the quality of the liquor he says, 

 " according as ii is managed, it proves strong Rhe- 

 nish, barrack, yea, pleastint Ciuiary, sugared ol 

 ilsell, or as rough as the flerccsi Greek wine, open- 

 ing, or binding, hoiding one, two. liiree, or moie 

 years, so thai no morlalcan yet say atwlial age it is 

 past the best. This we can say, that we iiave kept 

 it until il burn as quickly as sack, draws the flame 

 like Naphilia, and lires thesiomach like aqua vita?."' 

 Thus tliere a|)pearc a great difference betiveei:i the 

 opinions of the two men who probably paid more 

 attention to the subject than any other ; and the 

 question naturally arises, is the cider and perry of 

 Stie county as good or better than il used to be, alter 

 greateratieniion liaving been paid ^o the orchards? 

 1 am decidedly of opinion thai it is inferior; and il | 

 was this impression which caused me to venture to { 

 call your al-ention to the subject. If such be the j 

 case, it is a great object to ascertain what lias 

 caused the deterioration in the liquor. 1 believe | 

 that it is lor want of a due proporiion of the pecu- 

 liar acid which is lound in ttie greatest quantity in 

 the wild I'ruit ; and beg to sugsest whether it wo;dd 

 not be worth while to try back, and mix a certain 

 quantity of crabs v/ith the fruit belbre it is crushed. 

 We have many of us tasted, and all heard ol, the 

 Slire and Hagloe crab cider, both of which were so 

 celebrated lor their rich quality ; and these fruits 

 differed little Irom wild apples, his known that 

 the juice of crabs, if kept long enough, will make 

 excellent vinegar ; every housewile knows that, 

 however sour ihe liquor may be at first, it will not 

 answer for pickling, but that if kept a sulTuient 

 lime, there is no betier lor the purpose. It cannot 

 be supposed that one acid is changed into another 

 without passing through an intermediate stage, and 

 this must be the malic acid, having been converted 

 into sugar, which it appears in the ripening of li'uit 

 it has a natural tendency to do. The ofiject in 

 making cider of such fruit, is to prevent the sugar 

 when Ibrmed passing on to the acetous fermenta- 

 tion. A singular circumstance occurred at Bay- 

 eham : a hoi^shead was filled wiih crab juice, 

 intending lo keep it till il became vinegar ; bin the 

 cask was tapped by mistake, and supposed to be 

 cider until it was all drunk, which in fact it was. 

 Crab juice ferments much more slowly than the 

 juice of the apple, propably owing to there not 

 being enough sugar already formed in the liquor : 

 but I am of opinion that if some of the heading 



from a cask of cider in a stale of fermentation 

 were added to the crab juice, it would ferment 

 as readily, and clear itself as soon, as the juice of 

 the ap[)le. Owing lo the slowness of its lermenia- 

 tion, il lakes a great deal of time to convert the 

 juice of crabs into vinegar j but it is lound that it', 

 alter crushing them, the must be put into a cask 

 lor some dajs, till it hea's considerably, and that 

 if the liquor alierwards be ground with this must 

 and pressed again, it will pass into vinegar imme- 

 diately. I iherelbrc s:rongiy recommend a mix- 

 ture of the most austere and hardest apples which 

 can f)e procured with the soft and mellow Iruit 

 before ii is crushed. 



7%e best time of the year for making cider. — It 

 has been belbre ot)servi.'d that Mr. Kmghl recom- 

 mends the fruit to be pertir'ctly ripe, even mellow, 

 belbre il is crushed ; and this can only happen late 

 in ihe autumn. As il is known to be more diffi- 

 cult lo manage the lern)eniaiion of the liquor in 

 warm weather, il is usual lo deler making cider 

 till November and December ; if, however, the 

 liquor can be put into a coid ct-liar after the first 

 fermeniaiion is over, I am of opinion ihal it might 

 be commenced earlier. The juice of unripe fruit 

 feiments more quickly than of that which is ripe, 

 and contains more malic acid. Where there is 

 the convenience of a s^ood underground cellar, il-.e 

 difierence of temperature betweeu ihat and the 

 oui ward air is greater in moderately warm weather 

 than in November; so that if ti.e liquor were 

 fermented under sheds, as iVlr. Knight recom- 

 mends (and his insi ructions as to the manage- 

 ment ol the cider whilst lermeniing are excellent,) 

 and as soon as fine, removed into the cold cellar, 

 the change of temperature would be greater at the 

 end of September than in November; and this 

 would probably tend greatly lo prevent the liquor 

 liirmenting again. If the new cider cannot be re- 

 moved from the warmih of the atmosphere, tiiere 

 can be no question that it is belter lo deler the 

 making til! the weather becomes cool. 



Ferme Illation of the juice. — The researches of 

 scientific men, although very elaborate, have done 

 very little in throwing light upon the nature of 

 fermentation ; it appears lo partake in a measure 

 of ihe vital principle ; of the phenomena attend- 

 ing which, we know nothing. Many cuiious and 

 interesting facts have been discovered during the 

 investigation, but none of which appear likely to 

 be of much use in the making of cider. There 

 are three kinds of fermentation, or rather, there 

 are some products which pass regularly through 

 three staijes of fermentation, viz., the vinous, 

 the acetous, and the putrescent. Oi her substances 

 pass at once to one or other of the latter stages; 

 guni and water turning to vinegar without fonning 

 any spirit, and meat at once putrefying. It is not 

 desirable that the vinous fermentation should be 

 complete in the manufacture of cider, in which 

 case all the sugar of ihe apple would be converted 

 into spirit ; this never does happen without a por- 

 tion of vineijar being also formed, the acetous lier- 

 mentation iioing on jointly with the vinous, as, 

 when cider frets a great deal it may be very strong, 

 but is comparatively of little value, having lost all 

 its richness and become sour. The vinous fer- 

 mentation stops naturally before it has run its 

 course, and it is the object of the maker to avail 

 himself of this property in the liquor, and to en- 

 deavor lo prevent any secondary fermenlation 



