454 COWSLIP BIRCH WINE. 



beaten. Boil the composition half an hour, constantly 

 skimming; add one peck cowslips, if fresh gathered; if 

 dry, only half a peck, or perhaps somewhat upwards. 

 To these add the thin peelings of six lemons. Pour 

 on the boiling liquor and stir well ; when nearly cold, 

 add yeast and toast, if necessary. Ferment two or 

 three days. Fermentation having ceased, add a 

 bottle of sherry or mountain wine, with 6oz. syrup 

 of citron or lemon. Strain the third day, squeezing 

 the cowslips through a coarse cloth, and straining 

 through a flannel bag. Cask, letting it stand a fort- 

 night. ; the effervescence having ceased, bung close ; 

 subsequently, on the expiration of another week or 

 two, it may be bottled for use. It will be right, how- 

 ever, to note that, one of my daughters being on a 

 visit in Warwickshire about five years since, found 

 her stomach disordered in a very peculiar manner, 

 attended with sickness, on drinking cowslip wine ; an 

 usual effect, as she was informed, in that vicinity. 

 Such effect I never heard of, or experienced from 

 this beverage, in former days, and it may not impro- 

 bably have resulted from some error in the composi- 

 tion or manufacture. Should this wine be intended 

 for keeping, it may be bottled at the end of six 

 months. 



BIRCH WINE. The old recipe Early in March 

 is the season for making this wine, of which I have no 

 experience. The sap is then rising, the leaves not 

 having shot forth, and the juice is thin and clear. 

 The method of extracting the juice, is by boring the 

 body of the tree and inserting taps, usually made of 

 elder wood, the pith being removed. The birch being 



