NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



I-UBLISHI-.I) HY THOMAS W . SlIKPARH, lUKiKRS' liUll, DINGS, CONGR KSS STREET, (FOl'R Til DOOR PROM HI'.VTi: SrREl.F) 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1823. 



No. 10, 



Farmer's and GarHener^s Kemcinbrancer. 

 [by tice editor.] 

 OX MAKING AND PRESERVING CIDER. 

 Allhoiiirh so much has been [niliiisheil on this 

 ijoct lh;(t every farmer ulio derive? nny part 

 liis kuoivleds^e ot' ag;iicultiire t'rom reading:, 

 I5t be sujiposed to be acquainted with such of 

 letails as can be derived from the press of 

 printer; vet we hope that a recapilniation 

 well known rules on a topic of such interest 

 y prove useful. If we fail to communicate 

 or/g-i/ia/ ideas, we may be ot service by put- 

 some people in mind cfzi-hut tlici/ knezo before, 

 mia;ht overlook in the hurry of business. 

 The tirst step towards making good cider 

 procure good fruit. This fruit should be 

 of one kind, or the juice of each kind should 

 ressed and preserved by itself. " The value 

 ruits, for the manufacture of cider may be 

 ed of from the specific gravity of their ex- 

 sed juices. The best cider and perry are 

 e from those apples and pears that afford 

 lensest juices; and a comparison between 

 rent fruits may be made with tolerable ac- 

 y, by plunging them together in a siUural- 

 olution of salt, or a strong solution of sugar: 

 that sink deepest will aflbrd the richest 

 "* The Complete Farmer's Dictionary 

 " The worse the apple is for the table, 

 letter it is in general tor cider. The more 

 he apple is in ils rind, the fitter it is for '-i- 

 that is is to say, il it is at all tit ; for I have 

 an apple of a very deep red, which was 

 h nothing for that purpose. A sweet apple 

 a tough rind will alwaysyield a good vinous 

 r. The more yellow the llesh of the iVuit, 

 ■ettor and liner colored the cider will be." 

 The apples which are intended to make 

 of the best quality should be perfectly 

 I, ripe, and clean. None should be ground 

 her but such as are of about an equal de- 

 of ripeness. They should not be allowed 

 ■nain in a heap till the life or spirit of their 

 i is lost, and they become insipid and mealy ; 

 s a general rule they may be said to be in 

 }st state for making into cider, when they 

 " that degree of ri[ieness which makes them 

 pleasing to the palate ; or, as the Com 

 Farmer's Dictionary says, " the fruil 

 1 be ground when it is in the greatest per- 

 Q for eating." 



The apples should be spread on a floor, 

 cover, and protected from the weather, 

 e purpose of sweating. When the weather 

 r and warm they should be permitted to 

 n in this situation four or five days; but il 

 eather is wet and cool, they should lie a 

 •two longer.! They should then be pick- 

 er, wiped and dried m the sun, aud those 



vy's Agricultural C'hfmistry. 

 says the Fartatr'^a Assisianl. Willich's Dames- 

 yclopedia says, " 'Ihe duration of the time of 

 i» may be deteimined by the flavor ot tlit 

 as different kinds require various lengths of 

 namely, from eight or ten days to six weeks, 

 rsher and more crude the apples are, the longer 

 :es9aiy that thty sdould remain in a sweating 



which are rotten or otherwise defective, thrown j lish practice in general, but our farmers mo>t 

 away. | usually dispense with vats, or vessels merely 



4. Apples which drop early, commonly c.illed , for the purpose of containing the must while 

 wind falls, or those which are not ripe, or of in- ' fermenting. They put it directly into the bar- 

 ferior quality, may be matle into an inferior [ rels or casks in which it is intended to remain 

 kind of cider, which is sometimes submitted to ' at least till racked olV some time in the winter 

 the still, by which cider-spirit is obtained for | or spring. It is then deposited in a cool cellar, 

 mixing with store cider, and other purposes. [and thebungs are nsuailv left out of the barrels 



b. The cooler the weather in which your ci-! till tiie fermetil:ition begins to subside. Th« 

 der is made, provided it does not freeze your j bungs are then driven in tight, leaving a small 

 lingers nor your pomace, the belter ; aud it is spiggot vent a while longer if necessary, when 

 recommended to choose a time when the wind j at length the spiggot hole is closed and the ves- 

 " ' ' ■ ■ ■ ggj f^,„jg perfectly ajj. (jjrhf. 



from the west or north. Cidei intended tor 

 spring and summer use should be made the lat- 

 ter part of Octolier, or still later if the season 

 will permit. 



G. The cider-mill, press, grinding mill, trough, 

 and other implements should be perfectly sweet 

 and clean. Some farmers tell us that cider will 

 work itself clear, and therefore a little want of 

 cleanliness in making it does no harm. But the 

 truth is that cider receives any offensive, un- 

 pleasant, or unhealthy taint, and communicates 

 it as soon as any liquor. The pomace should 

 he laid on the press in clean straw, without us- 

 ing any ivater. 



7. The finer apples are ground the more ci- 

 der they will yield. If the mill is well fitted it 

 crushes the seed, and gives a peculiar and pleas- 

 ant aromatic bitter to the must which becomes 

 the more perceptible as (he cider acquires age. 



C. The trough to hold the pomace should be 

 large enough to contain a whole cheese at once. 

 The [)omace may stand from six to twenty-four 

 hours, according as you wish to give a higlier 

 or paler color to your cider. But it should be 

 stirred frequently if the. weather is warm to 

 prevent fermentation. Joseph Cooper, Esq. of 

 New Jersey, says, " the longer a cheese lies 

 after having been ground, before pressing, the 

 lielfer for the cider, provided it escapes fermen- 

 tation before the pressing is completed." 



9. The first running from the press, if you 

 would have your cider of the first quality, 

 should be put by itself. Some have gone so far 

 as to keep separate that which is obtained with- 

 out pressing. An English farmer says " as fast 

 as the fruit is ground (I need not say I use the 

 ripest first) the pulp is put into the cheese; at 

 the bottom of the vat is a tap through which a 

 considerable quantity of vinous juice will run 

 luitkout pressing. This is the best cider, and 1 

 barrel it separately." The Farmer's Assistant, 

 however, says "• the first and last running of a 

 cheese should be put by itself, as it is not so 

 good as the rest." 



10. " When the pressing of (he apples is fin- 

 ished the most careful makers of cider strain il 

 through a hair sieve, a coarse cloth, or sand, to 

 ^^parate it from the coarsest dregs. It must 

 Ihen be left to itself till it has gone through the 

 necessary fermentation; for this purpose some 

 put it into hogsheads, and others into great tub^ 

 or vats, wide at top and narrower at bottom, 

 containing from five to twenty hogsheads. In 

 these vessels the heaviest lees subside, and the 

 lighter lees form a crust, which, when it begins 

 to crack and sink gives notice of the time to 

 draw oflT and barrel the cider. This is the Eng- 



11. There art: three fermentations of which 

 cider is capable, viz. the vinous, which produces 

 the alcohol, that gives the liquor its stimulating 

 and exhilaraliifg (pialities ; the acid, which turns 

 the cider to vinegar, and the putrid, which to- 

 tally destroys its spirit and texture and reduces 

 it to a nauseous and poisonous liquid. The 

 principal object in making good cider is to stop 

 (he working of the cider as soon as the vinous 

 fermentation is completed. There are several 

 modes by which this may be effected. The 

 first mode is to have the vinous fermentation 

 conducted in vessels air tight, or as nearly so as 

 possible; thus preventing the escape of carbon- 

 ic acid or fixed air, which gives it life, and 

 causes i!s briskness. Cider cannot become vine- 

 gar unless it can give out carbonic acid gas, [fixed 

 air] and receive oxygone gas [vital air](wh!ch 

 is the principle of acidity) from the atmosphere. 

 If (he fermeiitalion proceeds slowlj', es[iecially 

 in air tight ..-ssels, the liquor is impregnated 

 with carbonic acid, wiiich under different cir- 

 cumstances would make its way into the open 

 air. It has been a practice to pour a tumbler 

 of oil into (he bung hole of every cider cask. 

 This entirely excludes the oxygcne of the at- 

 mosphere from access to the liquor to turn it 

 sour, and in part confines the carbonic acid 

 which gives it life, and makes it brisk and spark- 

 ling. Another practice is to confine, by main 

 force, the carbonic acid to the fermenting ci- 

 der. Dr. Darwin says he was told by a gen- 

 tleman who made a considerable quantity of 

 cider on his estate that he procured vessels of 

 stronger construction than usual, and directed 

 the apple juice, as soon as it was settled, to be 

 bunged up close, and that though he had one 

 vessel or two burst by the expansion of the fer- 

 menting liquor, yet this rarely occurred, 

 and (hat his cider never failed to be of the most 

 excellent quality and was sold at the highest 

 price. New cider may likewise be stopped in 

 vessels of no more than common strength and 

 buried pretty deeply in the ground, or immers- 

 ed in spring water, in which situation we are 

 told that it may be kept for years, and be very 

 fine when taken up. 



12. It is likewise said that a handful of pow- 

 dered clay, or a quarter of a pound of salt pe- 

 (re, or the same quantity of alum put into a bar- 

 rel of cider when fresh from the press, or be- 

 fore the fermentation has begun will so check 

 and regulate that process that the barrel may be 

 stopped tight immediately, and then will retain 

 all its £xed air. 



TO BE CONXraUED. 



