THE CIDER AND PERRY INDUSTRY. 



187 



it is wanting in flavour, some flavouring substance is added also. 

 Both systems have their votaries. The second is the easier of 

 the two, but I greatly prefer the first, and it is of cider and perry so 

 made that I venture to extol the merits as wholesome beverages. 



Now having procured our good cider and perry, why do I 

 recommend them ? Because they are natural drinks made from 

 the juice of ripe fruits without the admixture of any foreign 

 substance, or of any drug or flavouring, pleasant to the palate, 

 refreshing, and of low alcoholic strength. Although old cider 

 and perry, especially perry, may when fermented to dryness con- 

 tain as much as 10 per cent, of absolute alcohol, this is quite ex- 

 ceptional. The ordinary cider, such as would be acceptable to the 

 general public, rarely contains as much as 4 per cent. This was 

 demonstrated — as I pointed out in a recent letter to the Times, 

 at the Show of the Bath and West of England Society this year 

 at St. Albans. A rule having been made that all cider which 

 did not contain 4 per cent, of alcohol should ipso facto be dis- 

 qualified, the result was the exclusion of all the exhibits from the 

 most noted cider-producing counties of England, Devon, and 

 Hereford, none of which came up to the required standard, while 

 the strongest cider shown only contained G*60 per cent, of 

 alcohol. Indeed, out of a total of forty-seven exhibits tested, no 

 fewer than thirty-one were disqualified in pursuance of the rule 

 above mentioned. In the majority of cases the makers, aware 

 that the general public like a somewhat sweet liquor of low 

 alcoholic strength, had stopped fermentation before it had 

 developed the full amount of alcohol that the drink would have 

 yielded. I consider therefore cider such as would be readily 

 saleable on draught or in bottle to be a temperance drink pre- 

 ferable to all so-called temperance beverages. First, because it 

 is a natural and not an artificial liquor ; and, secondly, because 

 it contains much less alcohol than has over and over again been 

 proved to exist in those beverages. The wholesomeness of cider 

 and perry is derived to a great extent from malic acid, an 

 acid found in other fruits also. The acid of wine is tartaric acid, 

 which when combined with lime forms precipitates or insoluble 

 particles, which are, I believe, the principal cause of gout, 

 rheumatism, and kindred disorders. Malic acid, in itself a 

 health-giving product, has no power to form such precipitates, 

 and it is possibly for this reason that cider is now so often 



