120 



decaying. Each heap should be examined prior to 

 its being ground, and any decayed or green fruit care- 

 fully taken away. The expense of this will be very 

 small, and will be amply repaid by the excellence of 

 the liquor, and the ease with which too great a degree 

 of fermentation will be prevented. Each kind of fruit 

 should either be ground separately, or mixed with 

 such only as becomes ripe precisely at the same time ; 

 but it is from the former practice that fine ciders, of 

 different flavours and degrees of strength, are best 

 obtained from the same orchard. The practice of 

 mixing different varieties of fruit will, however, often 

 be found eligible ; for it is much more easy to find 

 the requisite quantities of richness, astringency, and 

 flavour, in three varieties of fruit, than in one ; and 

 hence ciders, composed of the juice of mixed fruits, 

 are generally found to succeed with greater certainty 

 than those made with any one kind. By mixtures, 

 also, the cider-maker, being able to give to each cask 

 a less portion of acid or astringency, may best accom- 

 modate different portions of his liquor to different 

 palates and constitutions. {Knight on the Apple, 107.) 



In 1830 the tax upon cider, of ten shillings a barrel, 

 was taken off (M'Culloch, Die. Ccm.) 9 and in the 

 same year an Act was passed allowing any person to 

 sell cider upon the payment of £2 2s annually for a 

 license from the Excise. This act was amended in 

 1834, and a license for the sale of cider was in 1836 



