THE CIDER AND PERRY INDUSTRY. 



183 



genuine cider and perry were rarely if ever to be found outside 

 the cider-producing districts, and even in them the bulk, partly 

 through carelessness in making and want of cleanliness, and 

 partly from the inferior quality of the fruit, was hard and acid, 

 and palatable only to those inured to it. 



But although this was the condition to which the industry 

 was reduced until quite lately, there has always been a prospect, 

 and a very fair prospect, of reviving it. The soil and climate are 

 the same as existed in the seventeenth century ; the orchards, 

 though neglected and reduced, are there ; and amid a host of 

 worthless varieties of fruit many sorts of approved excellence are 

 still to be found. Moreover, the branches of agriculture which 

 had, so to speak, ousted the cider industry are themselves on 

 the decline. 



Besides, there is this to be said for the cider and perry 

 industry. It is at the present moment the only agricultural 

 industry which appears to be capable of development to an 

 almost unlimited extent, and in which we are not as yet in 

 any great degree endangered by foreign competition. It is 

 therefore what I venture to term a hopeful industry ; and as it 

 once flourished in an age when light liquors were preferred to 

 heavy, there is, in my judgment, every reason to believe that once 

 the merits of good cider and perry become generally known, the 

 clemand, which is already increasing every day, will ultimately 

 result in these drinks taking the place, not indeed of good, whole- 

 some pure beer, but of the many artificial beverages by which 

 the taste of the public is now so sadly vitiated. It should be 

 noted, too, that, despite the decline in the industry, it is still one 

 of much more importance than is generally supposed. The 

 principal cider- and perry-producing counties of England are 

 Devon, Hereford, Somerset, Worcester, and Gloucester. 



The following table, taken from the latest agricultural returns, 

 *ives the area under orcharding in those counties in the years 

 L894 and 1895 :— 



1894. 1895. 



Acres. Acres 



Devon 26,846 ... 26,955 



Hereford 26,278 ... 26,538 



Somerset 24,376 ... 24,520 



Worcester 19,419 ... 19,665 



Gloucester 18,126 ... 18;514 



115,045 ... 116,192 

 Increase in 1895 over 1894, 1,147 acres. 



