28 Reports of Committees. 



plied, and if the market demand is considered not sufficiently remunerative for care- 

 ful picking, they can be made into cider and subsequently into vinegar. Pure cider 

 vinegar is always in great demand, and commands a high price. Much that is sold 

 under this name never emanated from the cider mill. There is more cider vinegar 

 sold iu the United States than there is cider manufactured. It is said that in order 

 to be sure of obtaining a cask of genuine port wine, it is necessary to go to the 

 vineyards near Oporto, watch its manufacture, and ride home outside of your cask, 

 and the case is pretty much the same with cider vinegar. To be eertaiu that you 

 have the prime article, you must manufacture your own cider, or buy it of a dealer 

 in whose honesty you can confide. 



The law now allows the manufactui'c and sale of cider in Massachusetts, and we 

 hope to see great improvements in the production of this article, which, if made and 

 used properly, can become a source of health to the community and wealth to the 

 farmers. Much of the cider formerly made in New England has been spoiled in the 

 making. The apples have not been mature or else half rotten, and the juice ex- 

 pressed through musty straw has been put into still more musty casks. When ap- 

 ples are fit to eat, then and then only are they fit to be made into cider. As the 

 apple ripens the starch is converted into sugar, and it is only when sugar abounds 

 in the apple that good cider can be made. Of course when the putrefaction process 

 has commenced in the fruit, it is only fit for the dung-hill. Probably more cider has 

 been spoiled from being put into old casks, than from any other cause. These casks 

 can not be cleaned by a simple washing out with cold water. If they have formerly 

 contained cider, a little of which was left, as is apt to be th« case, to pass through 

 the acetous fermentation into the putrefactive state, some seeds of putrefaction will 

 remain in spite of all cleaning by water, which will speedily corrupt the new cider. 

 Some fresh slacked lime or strong solution of potash we have found efficient in re- 

 freshing these old casks, but we feel more sure of good cider when we put it into 

 barrels in which alcohol or whiskey has been kept. 



We have taken much pains in New England, where grapes, it has been supposed, 

 would not flourish, to make wine from currants, black-berries, pie-plant, etc., but 

 we are satisfied that the true wine of New England is made from apples, and if the 

 same care were taken in the manufacture of cider that is bestowed upon wine, the 

 former would compare favorably with the latter. There are already some manufac- 

 turers of cider in the eastern part of this State who are reaping great profits from 

 the production of a superior article, and we commend this subject to the careful con- 

 sideration of the Berkshire farmers. It is a reputation for superiority which com- 

 mands a market for any commodity. Dr. Fisher of Fitchburg has this autumn 

 found a ready sale for his grapes at 20 cents per lb. , when other producers were glad 

 to obtain half this price. 



The notion has prevailed more or less extensively, that New England could not 

 compete with the west in the production of good apples. AVe are ready to acknowl- 

 edge that the western fruit looks larger and fairer than ours, but in flavor, western 

 apples are not equal to eastern, and they certainly do not make so good cider. We 

 have admired the products of the Missouri and Kansas orchards. The apples are 

 large, tender and free from worms, but we miss the delicious flavor which character- 

 izes our comparatively inferior looking fruit. The same observation has been made 

 by those who have visited Utah and California, and the want of flavor in the western 



