8 4 



Export of Butter from Russia. 



carbonic acid. Since the casks cannot remain hermetically 

 closed each one is furnished with a spigot or vent peg, which 

 allows the gas to escape and prevents the penetration of the 

 outer air. The spigots are maintained in position for several 

 days. The second fermentation causes a muddy deposit at 

 the bottom of the cask, and a second drawing off is therefore 

 necessary. The liquid should not, therefore, be drained 

 down to the lees, as there would be a risk of drawing oif 

 turbid cider, and the whole operation would be fruitless. 



It occasionally happens that, in spite of the two drawings 

 off, the cider still contains some impurities, which require a 

 clarifying agent for their separation. The best is catechu, 

 used in the proportion of 2 lbs. dissolved in 2 gallons of water 

 to 352 gallons of cider. 



Cider is, as already stated, frequently bottled, but when 

 used as an every-day local drink it is invariably preserved in 

 hogsheads or casks. Manufacturers make use of large 

 hogsheads, each containing about 4,000 gallons. 



Mr. Hertslet states that immense quantities of cider apples 

 are exported annually from Calvados to Germany, but that, 

 on the other hand, several thousand tons of dried apples are 

 imported into France every year from the United States, as 

 a cheap substitute for fresh apples, for the purpose of making 

 an inferior cider. The normal price of dried apples is 

 14s. 5d. per 112 lbs. It has been as high as £1 2s. 8d. per 

 1 1 2 lbs., and at the time of writing, after a crop more than 

 double the average one in amount, dried apples fetch 9s. id. 

 per 1 12 lbs. 



[ Foreign Office Report, Misce Uaneous Series, No. 532. Price 2d. ] 



Export of Butter from Russia. 



The Board of Agriculture have received through the 

 Foreign Office a copy of a report by Mr. A. Woodhouse, 

 H.M. Consul at Riga, upon the steps taken recently by the 

 Russian Government to facilitate the exportation of butter 

 and other perishable products from Siberia to this country. 



Mr. Woodhouse says that for some time past the desir- 

 ability of opening up the Siberian butter trade has occupied 



