CIDER 365 



often quoted to the contrary as having deteriorated 

 and become liable to canker from age, was ever, as we 

 learn from the old records, a bad doer, only healthy on 

 the choicest soils even in the early years after its 

 introduction. It is true that old varieties disappear, 

 whether of potatoes or apples ; but they disappear 

 because they are displaced by better ones. Com- 

 petition is the determining factor, as we may argue 

 from the short vogue of some new varieties and the 

 marked endurance of some of the older ones. 



Our host made a special feature of his cider, and we 

 tried to estimate the relative return from land planted 

 with cider or edible fruit. It is, however, almost 

 impossible to arrive at any general conclusion, so 

 variable is the crop and so entirely dependent are the 

 returns upon both the skill and the scale of expendi- 

 ture of the grower. But our host expected to make 

 in an average year five hogshead of cider per acre, or 

 270 gallons for sale at about yd. a gallon. Not a big 

 return, but the trees get no cultivation, and the labour 

 of the vintage comes after harvest, when there is not 

 much other work ; moreover, something must be added 

 for the grazing under the trees, which do not greatly 

 reduce the value of the grass. In an ordinary season 

 the fruit is only good enough to produce draught cider 

 to be drunk up during the following summer ; from 

 time to time come the vintage years, when the best 

 liquor may be put in bottles in the following spring 

 and will fine and improve for several years. In the 

 previous year we ventured to predict that the heat and 

 sunshine would result in a memorable vintage ; but 

 the cider of 1911 has turned out curiously disappoint- 

 ing, thin and without quality, quite unworthy of a 

 long life in bottle. It is generally a slow continuous 

 growth that makes for fineness, either in man or in 



