CIDER. 



rules; let it be thoroughly ripe when ground, 

 which should be about the middle of Novem- 

 ber. 2. Let the pomace remain from two to 

 four days, according to the state of the wea- 

 ther, stirring it every day till it is put to the 

 press. 3. If the liquor is deficient in the sac- 

 charine principle, the defect may be remedied 

 in the beginning by the addition of saccharine 

 substances or alcohol. 4. Let the liquor be 

 immediately placed in a cool cellar, in remark- 

 ably strong, tight, sweet casks ; after the pulp has 

 all overflown, confine the liquor down by driv- 

 ing the bung hard and by sealing; a vent must 

 be left, and the spile carefully drawn at times, 

 but only when absolutely necessary to prevent 

 the cask from bursting. The charcoal, as re- 

 commended by Mr. Knight, deserves trial. 



Fresh and sweet pomace directly from the 

 press, arid boiled or steamed and mixed with 

 a small portion of meal, is a valuable article 

 of food, or for fattening horses, cattle, and 

 swine. 



Sour casks are purified by pouring in a 

 small quantity of hot water, and adding un- 

 slacked lime ; bang up the ca:>k, and continue 

 shaking it till the lime is slacked. Soda and 

 chloride of lime are good for purifying. When 

 casks are emptied to be laid by, let them be 

 thoroughly rinsed with water and drained, tlu-n 

 pour into each a pint of cheap alcohol, shake 

 the cask and bung it tight, and it will remain 

 sweet for years. Musty casks should be con- 

 demned to other uses. Cider should not be 

 bottled till perfectly fine, otherwise it may burst 

 the bottles. The bottles should be strong, ami 

 filled to the bottom of the neck. After standing 

 an hour, they should be corked with velvet 

 corks. The lower end of the cork is held for 

 an instant in hot water, and it is then instantly 

 after driven down with a mallet. The bottles 

 must be either sealed or laid on their sides in 

 boxes, or in the bottom of a cellar, and covered 

 with layers of sand. 



Most of the above information relative to 

 cider-making is derived from the American Or- 

 chanlist, by W. Kenrick, of Boston, Mu^uclm- 

 setts, whose list of apple and other nursery 

 trees comprehends almost every kind desirable 

 for any purpose. 



The reader will find very explicit instruc- 

 tions for the manufacture of cider in the Penny 

 Cyrltip. vol. vii. p. 161 ; in the Lib. of Useful 

 Kn<ne. Brit. Husb. vol. ii. p. 364 ; Low's Pract. 

 Agr. p. 379; Croker, On the Art of Making ami 

 J\lattti^i,i^ Cyder; in the Quart. Journ. of Agr. 

 vol. viii. p. 332, by Mr. Towers ; and in Bax- 

 ter's Agr. Lib. p. 135, by Andrew Crosse, Esq., 

 of Somerset. The following instructions for 

 making cider are by a Devonshire lady. 



Gather the fruit when ripe ; let it remain in 

 a heap till the apples begin to get damp, then 

 grind them in a mill (similar to a malt mill); 

 take the pulp and put it into a large press like 

 a cheese-press, only on a much larger scale 

 place a layer of reed in the bottom of the vat 

 and a layer of pulp alternately until the vat is 

 full. The vat is square, and the ends of the 

 reed must be allowed to turn over every layer 

 of pulp, so as to keep it from being pressed 

 out at the sides : the layers of pulp must be 

 five or six inches thick. When you have 

 42 



CINQUE-FOIL. 



finished making your cheese, press it as hard 

 as you can, and let it remain three or four 

 hours ; then cut down the corners of it, and 

 lay them on the top with reed as before ; then 

 press it again, and allow it to remain for an- 

 other three or four hours. Repeat this process 

 as long as necessary, or until the cheese is 

 1 quite dry. It takes seven bags of apples for 

 ! one hogshead of cider, and the vat ought to be 

 { large enough to make from three to four hogs- 

 heads at a time. The best sort of apple to 

 I make mild cider is the hard bitter-sweet. Any 

 sort of sour apple will do to make the harsh 

 ! cider. The liquor must be strained through a 

 fine sieve into a large vessel, and allowed to 

 | ferment for three or four days, taking off the 

 scum as it rises ; then rack it, and put it into 

 casks stopped down quite close. Before the 

 cider is put into the cask, a match made of new 

 linen and attached to a wire is lighted and put 

 into the cask, and the bung is put in to keep the 

 wire from falling into it. After a few minutes 

 the match is removed, and the cider poured 

 into the cask while yet full of the smoke. 



A person would require three or four years' 

 experience before he would be qualified to 

 superintend the making of sweet or made 

 cider. Much depends on the year, or rather 

 on the ripening of the apples ; it should be the 

 second, not the first falling; and the "green 

 bitter-sweet" and the " pocket apple" are the 

 best for making it. After pounding, isinglass 

 and brimstone are used to sweeten and fine it, 

 and many other ingredients. (A. M. K.) 



The sweet cider, above described, is distinct 

 from the other two kinds of cider (the harsh 

 and mild). Cider, according to Brande, con- 

 tains about 9-87 parts per cent, of alcohol. It 

 is a wholesome beverage for those who use 

 much bodily exercise. ( Willich's Dom. Ency. / 

 M'Culloch's Com. Diet.) 



CINQUE-FOIL, COMMON CREEPING, or 

 FIVE FINGERED GRASS (Potentilla rep- 

 tans'). This creeping plant is common about 

 waysides, and in meadows and pastures in 

 England, where it is a perennial, flowering in 

 June. Its stalks, are round, smooth, and red, 

 lying upon the ground, and taking root at the 

 joints. The leaves stand five in number on 

 each foot-stalk, long and narrow in form, and 

 indented at the edges. The flowers are large, 

 of a bright yellow colour, standing upon long 

 foot-stalks. The root is long and large, cover- 

 ed with a brown rind. Smith (Eng. Flora, vol. 

 ii. p. 423) describes this and ten other species 

 of cinque-foil, all belonging to the same genus. 

 The root is the medicinal part, and once was 

 an officinal plant ; but is now discarded : dig 

 it up in April, take off the outer bark or rind, 

 and dry it. The powdered bark of the root is 

 astringent. 



There are a dozen or more species of cinque- 

 foil in the United States, among which is that 

 usually called the barren strawberry (Poten- 

 tilla Pennsylvania). It is a small, perennial, 

 creeping plant, very frequent on road-sides, 

 fence-rows, and banks, having thick, branch- 

 ing, fibrous roots. The petals of the flowers 

 are bright-yellow, the first flowers often ap- 

 pearing when the stems are very short, but 

 others appear afterwards on runners, which 

 2 E 2 329 



