CIDER AND PEKRY FRUIT. " 507 



Grenville's estate at Butleigh, he made an examination of several 

 local varieties growing in the orchards there, and discovered in the 

 apple named a type whose juice was extraordinarily rich in sugar, and 

 consequently of great value for vintage purposes. At that time, as far 

 as is known, there was only the single tree of that sort in existence. 

 The variety has since been propagated extensively at the National 

 Fruit and Cider Institute, where much work in the direction of in- 

 vestigating the vintage qualities of these rare sorts, as well as of the 

 better-known ones, is being carried on. In the nurseries at the 

 Institute there are being propagated young trees of all the most promis- 

 ing kinds 'discovered; and as these trees attain suitable size they are 

 bfeing planted at various centres in the cider-making districts, with the 

 object of testing the suitability of the individual kinds to those localities. 

 During the past two years forty-seven of these trial orchards have 

 been established; and in due course the information derived should 

 prove of the highest value to the cider-making industry. 



Vintage apples and pears may be divided into three classes, accord- 

 ing to the character of the juice and, thus, of the cider produced. One 

 class, the sharp," or '*sour," is characterized by the compara- 

 tively large amount of malic acid contained in the juice; and, as the 

 name denotes, the flavour is decidedly on the sharp side. Used alonfe 

 such varieties yield a sour or brisk cider, generally rather thin and lack- 

 ing in body. The members of the second class, the " bitter-sweets," 

 are distinguished by the bitter, astringent flavour of the juice and cider, 

 due to the presence of a comparatively large amount of tannin. Gener- 

 ally the type of cider produced is rich and full-bodied ; but since the 

 acidity is usually very low, it lacks briskness and life. The third 

 class, the " sweet," is composed of apples of a more or less negative 

 type of flavour, the juice containing very little acid or tannin, the 

 cider consequently being usually of an insipid character. As a rule 

 most sorts do not yield the best type of cider if made up singly ; but 

 by suitable blending of apples belonging to each of the three classes 

 mentioned it is possible to produce a beverage containing all the desir- 

 able qualities of each with the characteristic features suitably toned 

 down. 



Individual members of each class vary greatly in vintage quality. 

 As distinct from the quality of the juice as regards acidity and astringency 

 — features which can be adjusted at will by suitable blending to bring 

 the percentages of malic acid and tannin within desired limits — vintage 

 quality depends mainly upon two factors — (1) the richness of the 

 juice in sugar, and (2) the rate of fermentation of the juice. The 

 average amount of sugar in most varieties varies from 10 to 12 per 

 cent., which is equivalent approximately to a content of 5 to 6 per 

 cent, of alcohol in the mixture of cider or perry if the sugar is com- 

 pletely fermented. There are several varieties which can be relied 

 upon to show 12 to 15 per cent, of sugar in an average season, and 

 a few give even larger amounts. The importance of the sugar con- 

 tent of the juice is that the amount of alcohol which it is possible 



