662 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



are in ihe form of ordinary jelly bags, and their 

 hoops are fourteen inches in the clear. For a 

 short time the cider will run muddy ihrouiih the 

 bags — by continuing to fill them it will soon be- 

 come clear. The muddy cider in the tubs is then 

 removed. 



From one to two hogsheads a day will fine by 

 the process, but some (ruit fines much quicUcr 

 ihan other: the apples should not be too mellow; 

 and pears when quite ripe should be grouud as 

 soon as collected. Apples with yellow pulps, and 

 red and yellow make ihe best cider — green apples 

 the worst. The cider you call " delicious' was 

 made with pearmains, Blenheim oranges, and 

 bromleys, mixed in equal quantities. 



The dropping bags must be replaced by clean 

 ones the next morning to filter the cider left. 



The cider being now fine, with the full flavor 

 of the Iruit, it is put into a cask in a cool cellar 

 with the bung ort'. Wiihin a few days another 

 fermentation will commence, and the cider will 

 have a pearly whiteness, being the commence- 

 ment of the acetous fermentation. As soon as 

 perceived, it must be run through the charcoal 

 bags as before, but it will pass through four of 

 them quite clear in lees time than it previously 

 ran through the twelve. It is then put into the 

 cask, and left with the bung off until March, but 

 should any fermentation be afterwards perceived, 

 it must be drawn off to stop it, and returaed to 

 the same cask or another. 



In making the common cider, if is carried to 

 the cellar direct from the cider mill, and is left to 

 its natural fermentations until December, when 

 it is bunged close. But if any part of the best be 

 wished to be preserved for the use of the family, 

 it can be filtered in the cellar after throwing out 

 the must. 



Every vessel used must be quite clean, and 

 free from the acids of bad cider or other liquors in 

 the wood, or the whole will be spoiled. 



The first fermentation is the vinous, the second 

 the acetous, and the last the putrefactive : the use 

 of the charcoal dropping bags ie to fine the cider 

 and stop the fermentation at the vinous process, 

 and which it does eflectually; and in the same 

 manner all wines can be fined and the fermenta- 

 tion stopped whenever required, and the flavor of 

 the fruit preserved. But these charcoal dropping 

 bags are also valuable to cleanse impure water at 

 sea, impure river water which supplies large 

 towns, and soft water for washing, by removing 

 the sooi and dirt from it. That they have been 

 only partially used since the years of iheir disco- 

 very, notwithstanding the cost of each bag docs not 

 exceed sevenpence, can arise, I fancy, only from 

 the common practice of rejecting every thing that 

 is new for a while, however good and useful for 

 general comforts, until good sense triumphs over 

 the prejudices of vanity. 



Ever, my dear sir, j^our's sincerely, 



James Richards. 

 To Edward Holland. Esq., 

 Chairman of the Winchcomb Farmer's Club. 



HISTORY OF THE WEATHER. 



From Ihe Journal of Commerce. 



With an old work published by Pilgrara, at 



Vienna, in 1788, combined with the observations 

 made by Professor Platf of Keil, Offeff'or, of Ger- 

 many, has compiled a work, entitled The History 

 of Climates and Changes. For the gratification, 

 as well as iniormaiion of the reader of' the jour- 

 nal, I quoie various extracts made by Taylor, in 

 a work published by hin) in London in 1830. 



"It is very difficult to ascertain the precise 

 condition of the weather in distant as^s. The 

 thermometer was not invented until 1590, by the 

 celebrated Sanctoria ; nor was that valuable in- 

 strument reduced to a correct standard till 1724, 

 by the skill of Fahrenheit. We havelon observa- 

 tions of temperature which go farther back than 

 a century. Prior to that period we must glean 

 our information ti-om the loose and scanty notices 

 which are scattered through the old chronicles, 

 relative to the stale of the harvest, the quality of 

 the vintage, or the endurance of the frost and 

 snow in winter. Great, allowance, however, 

 should be made for the spirit of exaggeration, 

 and the love of the marvellous, which inlect all 

 those rude historical monuments. 



In A. D. 401, the Black sea was entirely frozen 

 over. 



In 462, the Danube was frozen so thatTheode- 

 mar marched over the ice to avenge his brother's 

 death in Swabia. 



In 545, the cold was so severe in winter that 

 the birds allowed themselves to be caught by the 

 hand. 



In 763, not only the Black sea, but the Straits 

 of the Dardanelles was frozen over. The snow 

 in some places rose fifty feet high, and the ice 

 was so heaped in the cities as to push down the 

 walls. 



In 800 the winter was intensely cold. 



In 822, the freat rivers of Europe, such as the 

 Danube, the Elbe, and the Seine, were so hard 

 frozen as \o bear heavy wagons for a month. 



In 860, the Adriatic was frozen. 



In 874, the winter was very long and severe. 

 The snow continued to fall from the beginning of 

 November lo the end of JMarch, and encumbered 

 the ground so much that the forests were inacces- 

 sible for the supply of fijel. 



In 891, and again in 893, the vines were killed 

 by the frost, and the cattle perished in their stalls. 



In 991, the winter lasted very long with ex- 

 treme severity. Every thing was frozen, the 

 crops totally failed, and famine and pestilence 

 closed the year. 



In 1044, great quantities of snow lay on the 

 ground ; the vines and fruii trees were destroyed 

 and famine ensued. 



In 1067, the cold was so intense that most of 

 the travellers in Germany were frozen to death on 

 the road. 



In 1124, the winter was uncommonly severe, 

 and the enow lay very long. 



In 1133, it was very cold in Italy ; the Po was 

 frozen from Cremona to the sea ; the heaps of 

 snow rendered the roads impassable; the wine 

 casks burst in the cellars, and even trees split by 

 the action of the frost with immense noise. 



In 1179, the snow was 8 feet deep in Austria, 

 and lay till Easter. The crops and vintage failed, 

 and a great murrain consumed the cattle. 



The winters of 1209 and 1210 were both of 

 them very severe, insomuch that Ihe cattle died 

 lor want of fodder. 



