Keeping of Cider. 



235 



matter), 15 lbs.; potatoes (cooked or from the silo), 3^ Ibse ; 

 cake, lbs. ; or 23! lbs. in all. The increase in weight 

 shown by both lots w^as the same. M. Girard pointed out, 

 however, that the potatoes only formed a small percentage 

 of the rations, and that the experiment could, therefore, 

 not be held to prove conclusively that the preserved potatoes 

 were as good for stock as the cooked. 



Much of the cider in farmhouses is stored in casks kept 

 upright. As the result of observations 

 ^^CMe? experiments by Mr. J. F. Lloyd, 



F.C.S., F.I.C., it has been found that 

 cider so stored does not keep so well as when the barrels are 

 laid down. It is more liable to become acid in an upright 

 barrel. Now cider does not become acid unless air gets to it. 

 In fact, the longer the cider is kept free from the air, the less 

 acid it becomes. This fact is important and may not be 

 generally known. It is most noticeable in bottled cider. For 

 example, some cider containing 0*65 per cent, of acid was 

 bottled for experimental purposes, and some months after- 

 wards was again analysed. It then contained only 0*48 per 

 cent, of acid (malic). In another instance the juice contained 

 when bottled on the 24th January, 1896, 0*62 per cent, of 

 acid; on the 7th May, 1896, 0-53 per cent, of acid; on 

 2nd November, i8g6, 0-45 per cent, of acid. The reason why 

 air gets to it more readly when the barrel is upright is not 

 difficult to find. Whenever a barrel is thoroughly cleaned 

 the head is the part taken out. It may be replaced with 

 skill, but is never so tight as it was originally. So long as it 

 is wet it may be tight, but if allowed to get dry it opens more 

 readily than any other part of the barrel. When the barrel 

 is upright the head does get dry unless special means are 

 taken to keep it moist. Then air reaches the cider, the 

 alcohol undergoes a change, and is converted into acetic acid 

 (vinegar). This is one cause of bad cider. Another is the 

 custom of spiling casks, and now and again drawing a 

 little out for friends to taste. The air gets in after each drop 

 is drawn (unless the cider is highly carbonated, i.e., contains 



