76 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. a9, 183d 



From tlie Ammcan Se.niiiuL 



CIDER. 



Mucli has been wrilten on the subject of improv- 

 in'' Cidor in various ways, each as straining it 

 from the press, by filtration through sand or coal, 

 by boiling, freezing, and racking, and by the addi- 

 tion of other ingredients to strengthe;i and im- 

 prove it. Many of these and other modes are 

 doubtless very beneficial. 

 ll,_.But my object is to point out and convince the 

 practical farmer, by stating plain, simple facts, 

 thai' the most important part towards having good 

 Cider is in the making — to obtain the strength 

 and spirit from the apple in the first place, and 

 that in many if not iu most cases, it is not extract- 

 ed from the pumice. It is needless to state that 

 the rich, dry, sweet apples make the best liquor, 

 or that it is important that the fruit should be ripe 

 and not defective, clean and dry : these things 

 are generally and well understood. T^ie great er- 

 ror lies in the imperfect and hasty manner in 

 which the v.'ork is done. It is usu:-. ly the case 

 that several make their Cider at one ui;U, and each 

 are allowed but a short time ; the apples are 

 broken in a mii mill (the kind now in common use) 

 and put immediately on the platform, and in three 

 or four hours a cheese or pressing is made up, the 

 screws forced upon it im.mediately, and in a short 

 time the work is done. 



Suth cider as thi?, and made from sour hard ap- 

 ples, will have a watery appearance at the press, 

 and an actual sour flavor, and soon as fermented 

 will inevitably have a light colour, and be but lit- 

 tle different from poor weak vinegar, au'l poorly 

 compensates the maker. The mode iu which Ci- 

 der ought to be made, would be to grind the fruit 

 in the old fashioned trough and wheel mill, until 

 completely crushed to a pulp ; then remove it into 

 a vat, and let it remain in a mass until there ap- 

 pears a slight fermentation ujion it, which will be 

 varied by the weather and ripeness of the fruit 

 from one to three days ; then put it to the press, 

 and not work it off too fast on account of having 

 it clear. Your pumice in the vat will change to- 

 ward.s a cherry red, and your cider will partake of 

 the same colour, and if not made too early in the 

 season, will have sufficient body to carry it thro' 

 the next summer, and a good foundation to work 

 lipon if you wish to imprce it. 



My objection to the nut mill is, that it merely 

 breaks or cuts up the apple, and does not crush 

 and grind it like the wlieel ; still if the work is 

 well done the pumice will very much improve in 

 fermentation. To convince you that I am correct, 

 bruise a sour hard apple, and force out the juice, 

 and you will find it thin as water, white and sour, 

 bruise the other side, and let it remain a few days, 

 and you will find the bruise a deep colour, and 

 the juice the same colour, sweet and rich. 



I am well convinced that we lose much spirit in 

 the pumice. In New Jersey and the South, the 

 Distillers never practice purchasing Cider, but re- 

 ceive a certain number of bushels and parts of 

 bushels of apples (as may be agreed upon) for a 

 gallon of brandy, and I am told that they pay 

 more, and are themselves better paid, than our 

 Cider Distillers; they grind them, and ferment 

 the pumice unpressed, in "vats, and distil the whole 

 mass ; it makes what they call tjie apple brandy, 

 and has a flavor of the seed which makes it differ 

 from our cider brandy, which flavor is more or 

 less liked, according to habit in use of either. I 



have often thought that our cider distillers would 

 find it profitable to erect vats, and send round and 

 gather pumice from the presses in their neighbor- 

 hood, (u-hicli is always wholly useless,) and fer- 

 ment and distil it. I may be in an error, but I 

 think it would be an experiment by those fitted 

 for it. The sting of the nose which you feel in 

 walking over a bed of pumice, is caused by the 

 spirit arising from it. M. 



From the Brooklyn Advertiser. 



GENERAL WASHINGTON. 



Jlr. Gray, — I have in my possoseion an original 

 Idler of Gen. Washington's, written soon after his 

 second inauguration as President. It contains 

 minute directions for the management of his Plan- 

 tation, during his absence at Congress. There 

 may be nothing in it immediately applicable to the 

 agricidture of this part of our country. But we 

 shall i(ll esteem still more that worthy employment, 

 to know that " the Father of our Nation," in the 

 midst of his unnumbered public concerns, made it 

 the subject of careful thougiit ; and was glad when 

 his country permitted him to give to it his particu- 

 lar attention. 



Your readers will, I doubt not, peruse with in- 

 terest a few e.xtracts : — , 



Philadelphia, Aug. 4, 1793.' 



Dear — , Your letter of the 3ist ult. enclof 



iug the Report of the preceding week, came dul^ 

 to hand yesterday. * * * * / 



Desire to have the Grass-seed sown in tie 



swamp he has been ploughing, as soon as he cin 

 get it in perfect order, and laid smooth. — He hjis 

 already been instructed as to the mode of doing \t, 

 and (piantity of seed to the acre. — Tell him not to 

 bury the seed : if tire ground is well prepaicd and 

 laid level, the lightest bush harrow is sufficient to 

 pass over it after sowing; and if there should be 

 any appearance of rain soon, it would be better 

 without even this, provided the ground is vvcil 

 pulverized and lies light. 



* * s -x- -s- -A- 

 There is no covering Buck-Wheat entirely. 



Rolling before the plough, and ploughing in, the 

 way the roller runs; is the most effectual, and 

 ought to have been practised ; but I suppose the 

 o,\en being employed in drawing in the wheat,, 

 was the cause that prevented it. 



* « « * -if « I 

 Wlien will the Mansion-house people be done 



hay-making; and what do they go about next.'' — 

 The Potato ground will, I hope, be well worked ; 

 whensoever they get into if, for the reasons mm- ' 

 tioned in formur letters. And advise with Butler 

 whether the Oat ground nt the Mansion-liouse, 

 which you say is so thinly spread with the gra._-i, ' 

 that was sown along with the oats,might not, wher;, '. 

 wanting, have clover and orchard grass scattered 

 in suflicient quantities over it, and harrowed in, as 

 it now is, without ploughing the ground. If it is 

 not sprung up much with vveeds, I should think 

 this mode would do. But it is impossible for me. at 

 this distance, to give any precise opinion on what 

 is best to be done. 



* « * « » * 

 Desire .all the overseers to be very regular in 



penning their stock, and not to keep the pens long 

 in n place. The doing the latter destroys the use 

 of the manure ; for one part of the field is made 



60 rich by it, that the grain all lodges ; and] 

 rest is left too poor to bring any thing. * 



I am your friend, 



GEORGE WASHINGTOJ 



P. S. A Dutch newspaper is sent for the , 

 dener. 



From the Trenton Emporium. 



ESSAY ON THE HORSE. 



Improvements of every kind in that whic! 

 useful deserve attention, and the person who fal 

 my place, by a .simple contrivance to make two 

 posts in a rail fence supply the place, answer 

 nearly all the purposes of a new one, hao- coiitril 

 ed more to the good of mankind, than the w 

 bibber Alexander, and the barbarous (ihe: 

 Khan by all their victories. 



I have often seen, and so I, dare say liav 

 people seen, before a farmer's door many old pi 

 which, being decoyed, by long contact with 

 earth, at the bottom, have been laid aside ai 

 only for firewood. Take two of these posts, 

 off the unsound part, which usually extends 

 little, if any, above what has been covered by 

 e;:rth — bury one of them so as to cover t : n of fli 

 post holes, and you will then have thrtn' liofc 

 above the ground. Then place the other pos i 'dps 

 to the one buried, so that the rails wid pw 



.t«- 



through three holes of each, leaving of co;i 

 hot"; of the latter above any point of th. ii >;:;ioi 

 llie rails thus placed braced Ih.^ two posts ..^atl 

 er, and make then sufTioiently substantial '-r s 

 iimer inclosureS; and the fence will be of l,h' ;isi: 

 al lieight, that is, five rails, or five and a hi^'i'lee 

 Simple as this operation is, I am sure I mi;; lit hav 

 saved on my farm some hundred of dollars, had 

 known it twenty years ago. 



Sir John Chardin says that '' the Arabian motl: 

 od of trying a maiden horse is, to ride him ninet 

 miles without slopping, and then plunge him up( 

 the chest in water. If he would immedintely ei 

 his food, that proof of the vigour of his appetite a 

 so proves the genuineness of his blood." Thi 

 mode of trial, if ever practised, would indeed b 

 killing two birds with one stone, for if it prove tb 

 " hlood " of the horse, one would imagine that i 

 proved too, the hardihood, patience and perse Jl 

 ance of the rider. Be that as it may, one faofl 



■ beyond dispute, it is tl.is, those horses which vw 

 us we call " blood horses," possess in a grcatero 



I less degree, probably according to the mixture, o; 



' or in other words, the purity of their blood, tl 

 these qualities which we admire in their progeni- 

 tors. 



1 It would be no difficult matter to satisfy the most 

 sceptical man, that a horse which is able to travel 

 sixty miles a day, for weeks together, is a better 

 and more profitable animal than one which can 



I journey over but forty miles, and at that rate fori 

 few days only — yet this is about the average dif- 



I ference between the "blood horses" and the con 



, mon ones. It was stated a few years ago by Mr 

 Chester Baily, of Philadelphia, a gentleman who "" 

 has been extensively concerned in the mail lined 

 stages between Baltimore and New York, for » 

 quarter of a century, that " blood iiorses" were ca- 

 pable according to his experience,of accomplishing 

 one third more labour in a given time llian the com- 

 m-on breed. Who then, if he be able to obtain a 

 " blood horse," would purchase any other .' Cer- 

 tainly not he who has tried both. 



A FARMER. 



