SORTS RIPENING APPLE HARVEST. 405 



and well cleansed from weeds, during the spring and 

 summer seasons. 



The sorts of fruit for cider may be various. In- 

 deed an opinion is entertained by some persons, that 

 a mixture of various kinds of fruits makes the best 

 cider : others, however, scrupulously keep some of 

 the sorts apart : the cockagee in the West is thus 

 kept ; but we, nevertheless, question the utility of 

 it. Every county has its peculiar fruits. In So- 

 mersetshire, we have the Cadbury, the Dorsetshire 

 Red-streak, the Long -stemmed Veining, the Sty re, the 

 Jersey, the South-ham, the Cockagee, the Pit-crab, 

 and many others. We might enumerate also those 

 of Devonshire and Herefordshire, but it certainly 

 cannot be necessary. 



In regard to the ripening of apples, one thing 

 ought to be most carefully noted ; that although 

 many apples ripen on the trees, and fall off of them- 

 selves, or with a slight shaking, others do not com- 

 ply with these conditions ; some, although not ripe, 

 fall off the trees spontaneously, but require to be 

 kept for many days, sometimes two or even three 

 weeks, before they become in the state usually called 

 ripe. Attention to this is of importance, as upon the 

 perfect ripeness of the apple depends chiefly the good- 

 ness of the cider : a fact not sufficiently attended to 

 by cider makers in general. 



The great harvest for apples is in the month of 

 October ; but when the crops are large, many apples 

 remain to be gathered, particularly those which ripen 

 late, at the beginning of November. There are dif- 

 ferent practices in various places, for collecting the 



