CIDER. 



211 



niuking months in New-England. It would require bul 

 little attention to select and propagate the best apples 

 thus ripening in .succession. Such ciders, made of ripe 

 and unmixed fruits, would be more easily managed in 

 the most difficult and important part of the process of 

 cider making — its tirst fermentation. 



To make the best cider, there are several requisites. 

 The apples should be of one sort, and of the best kind. 

 They should be perfectly sound, ripe, clean, and dry. 

 Those which are shook from the trees by a gentle shak- 

 ing, late in the season, are best; and all knotty, wormy, 

 and rotten ones should be rejected. Such as are not of 

 this prime rate may be made into common cider. 



The apples thus selected should be spread on a floor, 

 covered from the dews and rain ; but exposed to a cur- 

 rent of air. Here they are to lie about fourteen days 

 for the purpose of sweating. After this they must be 

 dried by exposure to the sun, the rotten ones thrown 

 away, and ground imnjediately. A clean, convenient 

 and covered mill and press, is the tirst pre-requisite for 

 making good cider ; and the straw should be clear from 

 mustiness, as cider readily imbibes oftensive tastes. The 

 apples should be reduced to a fine pulp. The colour 

 of the liquor and its smoothness are both improved by 

 laying from six to twenty four hours, according to the 

 weather, in the trough after grinding ; turning it fre- 

 quently to prevent fermentation. Lay up the pomace 

 on the press without using a drop of w^ater in any part 

 of the process. Press the cheese gently at first, and 

 advance slowly to the utmost power of the screw. It is 

 in all cases necessary to return the first running on io 

 the cheese, until it runs free from pulp. To clean ca^ks 

 which have been used for cider, as soon as one is empty, 

 put in two or three quarts of fine gravel, and three oi 

 four gallons of cold water, and shake and roll it well. 

 Aiter this is emptied out, pour in a pail full of boiling 

 water; roll and shake the water to every p-art of the 

 cask, so as to heat it on all ^^ides. Then pour out the 

 water, and lay the cask exactly bung h' le downward.-^, 

 the water running clear and entirely off; the heat in the- 

 cask will dry it perfectly. In this state, bung it up 

 carefully, and it will keep sweet. When casks have u 



