670 
The minute organisms that are respons- 
ible for changing the sugar content of 
apple juice to the acetic acid of vinegar 
require special conditions in order to 
thrive and do their work. The practice 
of modern vinegar making has been 
greatly facilitated by a knowledge of the 
habits and requirements of these organ- 
isms, and a proper manipulation of the 
juice to fill these requirements. The yeast 
plant, which, as has been stated above, is 
responsible for the alcoholic ferment, 
thrives best in a temperature of 75 de- 
grees to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. If the 
storage room be kept at this temperature 
the alcoholic ferment should be com- 
pleted in about four weeks. Special yeast 
cultures are sometimes used to hasten the 
process. 
The acetic ferment, or the bacteria, that 
are responsible for the chemical change of 
alcohol to acetic acid require oxygen in 
order to thrive and to do their work, and 
the cider must therefore come in contact 
with the atmosphere. Since only the sur- 
face of the cider in a barrel comes in 
contact with the air it is only upon the 
surface that the acetic ferment works. 
For this reason the old system of allow- 
ing the cider to stand in barrels until it 
becomes vinegar requires a period of 
many months, usually about two years. 
The modern vinegar maker hastens 
matters by passing his cider through a 
“generator.” A “generator” is a tall tank 
having a perforated false bottom some 
eight to ten inches from the real bottom, 
and a false head a few inches from the 
top of the staves. The space between 
the false bottom and the false head is 
filled with rattan or beachwood shavings, 
or some other suitable material. Just 
above the false head the cider is fed into 
a little trough, which automatically 
dumps and spreads the cider over the 
perforated head. This allows it to trickle 
down through the shavings, thus exposing 
every drop to the air. In this way the 
Same process which requires two years 
in the barrels is accomplished in a single 
day. However, for the average orchard 
man the old barrel process is still prob- 
ably the most practical. Even this pro- 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
cesS may be very much shortened by a 
proper manipulation of the cider in the 
barrels. It may be racked off into new 
barrels frequently and in that way thor- 
oughly stirred and exposed to the oxygen 
of the atmosphere. 
The ideal temperature for the acetic 
ferment is about 86 degrees Fahrenheit. 
That is the bacteria is most active at this 
temperature and becomes less active as 
it varies either way from this. At 104 
degrees Fahrenheit their action ceases 
entirely. 
Upon completion of the vinegar process 
the vinegar maker takes every precaution 
to check further chemical change or de- 
composition. He puts the finished product 
in pure, clean, barrels carefully guarding 
against the presence of vinegar eels or 
other foreign matter. The barrels are 
then tightly bunged and his product is 
ready for the market. 
P. §. DARLINGTON, 
District Torticultural Inspector. 
Cabbages 
The parent from which the variety of 
cabbages in common use has sprung is 
supposed to be the wild sea cabbage 
(Brassica oleracea), a plant found near 
the seacoast of various parts of England 
and continental Europe. The cultivated 
varieties vary greatly from the original 
type, but present striking similarities 
amongst themselves. There are some 
points however, in which the wild and 
the cultivated are nearly alike and these 
are in the flower seed pod and seed. 
Cabbages contain a very small per cent 
of nitrogenous compounds as compared 
with most articles of food. An analysis 
When cooked will show that they gener- 
ally contain chemical constituents as fol- 
lows: Water, 97.4 per cent; fat, 0.1 per 
cent; carbohydrate, 0.4 per cent; mineral 
matter, 0.1 per cent; nitrogenous matter, 
0.6 per cent; cellulose, 1.38 per cent. They 
are said to possess anti-scorbutic proper: 
ties. Apart from that, the analysis shows 
that they have very little food value. 
The Soil 
Cabbages require a deep rich soil, 
where they can be made to grow rapidly 
