nOW TO GROW GOOD ORCHARDS. 351 



CHAPTER LI. 



ON THE USES AND ECONOMY OE CIDER AND PERRY. 



If we canvass the opinions of the mass of the people 

 in cider-producing and non-cider-producing counties 

 as to the relative merits of cider and beer, we shall 

 find opinions wider apart than even the counties 

 themselves. The " Beer-drinking Briton " cannot at 

 all understand how the lover of cider can skin his 

 throat with such sour stuff as cider, whilst the agri- 

 cultural labourer in cider districts infinitely prefers 

 harsh cider to the finest ale. We recollect, in one of 

 our geological trips in to Herefordshire, in company 

 with an esteemed clerical friend, that a quarryman, 

 working in Wenlock limestone, tendered us a few 

 shells, on which we offered him sixpence, remark- 

 ing, " Here's a quart of beer for your trouble." This 

 same man then gave our companion a couple of 

 trilobites, who presented him with a coin of like 

 value to our own, but with the remark, " Here, my 

 friend, is a gallon of cider for you." The effect upon 

 the man's whole. being will never be forgotten. He 

 was the slave of the Church for the whole day, and 

 ever thereafter for all we can tell. 



In cider districts the farmer, his family and friends, 

 all relish cider, and with all, its proper use seems to 

 agree in a most remarkable manner ; but it would 

 be fun to a country cousin who could cease to look 

 at the matter in a serious light to see what a face 

 2 E 



