73 



dling the product properly. Practical duplicates of this factory were 

 observed elsewhere, and very fair cider was made on a large scale, but 

 no really fine products from such plants were observed. 



The best large factory visited was at Hereford City, but here admit- 

 tance to the operating rooms and cellars was refused, though an 

 extended interview on the methods was given. These operators are 

 patterning wholly after the French champagne makers. They have 

 extensive cellars in which their product is finished at a temperature 

 of 47 to 50 F. They explained their system of blending the must 

 before fermentation, which, by the way, is one of the most important 

 operations in determining the grade of product produced. 



On the estate of Lord Sudle\ r , in Worcestershire, some very inter- 

 esting and decidedly successful amateur work in cider making was 

 observed. Here the manager of the estate, Mr. Charles D. Wise, has 

 for several years been studying and experimenting on the manufacture 

 of fine bottled cider and perry, and he has succeeded remarkably well 

 in some particulars. He has installed a small plant in a great circular 

 brick structure, formerly used as a riding school. Here he grinds the 

 fruit on a grater machine, using a portable farm engine. The pulp is 

 pressed by a hand-power screw press, and the must is carried through 

 the first fermentation in great tubs or vats. As soon as the lees are 

 well separated, the cider is racked off and then filtered by gravity 

 through wood pulp. This is accomplished by the use of a great tub 

 elevated about 10 feet above the floor. In it is fitted a false perfo- 

 rated bottom, a few inches above the real bottom, and between these is 

 placed the filtering medium. The tub is filled with cider, and the 

 clarified product is received below and placed in large casks about the 

 course of the riding school to mature. 



The cider is permitted to remain in these casks from one year to 

 eighteen months before bottling. Apparently very little technique is 

 employed, but some of the product is excellent. How much failed to 

 turn out well was not ascertained. 



The experiments on cider making in England, conducted conjointly 

 by the Board of Agriculture and the Bath and West Agricultural 

 Society, are carried on at Butleigh Court, the country seat of K. Neville 

 Grenville, esq., in Somersetshire, near Glastonbury (PI. VII). Mr. 

 Grenville is personally interested in this work, and has devoted con- 

 siderable ' time and money to it, and Mr. F. J. Lloyd, of London, a 

 consulting chemist, has supervised for the authorities the more techni- 

 cal aspects of the work. The reports on this work can be found in 

 full in the annual volumes of the Bath and West of England Society. 



The cider house at this place is equipped in part on French models. 

 The fruit is stored in a loft, and is ground on a machine at the level of 

 the upper floor, whence the pulp falls to the press below. The grinder 

 is of the German pattern with stone rollers. The pulp is pressed on a 



