398 
On tlie Cultivation of Orchards, and 
Manaf/nnient of Store Fruit. 
Apples and pears, which are intended for keepino;, should be 
hand-gathered when they are as ripe as they will hang on the 
tree. If they are taken much earlier they will shrivel, notwith- 
standing all the pains that may afterwards be taken to preserve 
their plumpness. The gathering should be conducted with great 
care, so as to prevent bruising, as the least injury of that kind 
produces decay and rottenness in the injured apple, which soon 
communicates it to others. The fruit should be gathered in dry 
weather, and spread singly upon a floor in an open apartment for 
about a week, and then carefully put away in bins or boxes, in a 
tolerably airy place, with a layer of fresh dry wheat-straw, or of 
paper, between each layer of apples or pears. If it be desired 
to keep them very long, and in high perfection, when taken from 
the floor they should be carefully wiped, and each wrapped in 
thin paper, like that used for oranges. Recesses, fitted with 
shelves, so -as to prevent their jn-essing too heavily, are the best 
adapted for their stowage. By the latter means, apples and pears 
of the keeping kinds may be preserved quite fresh and plump 
until the return of fruit in the following summer. 
Making Cider. 
Before entering upon the subject of cider-making, it may be 
proper to offer some observations on the nature of the apple with 
reference to that object, and also on the nature of fermentation — 
the right understanding of which is calculated to throw some 
light upon the best practice, and perhaps to lead to a correction 
of that which is bad. " Previous to maturity, apples are formed 
of a compact cellular tissue, containing the elements of woody 
fibre, and filled with a liquid containing very little sugar, a 
gummy substance, and a large quantity of free acid. During 
maturation a part of the acid disappears by the influence of the 
oxygen of the atmosphere, the cellular tissue diminishes, and the 
proportion of the sugar increases, insomuch that, instead of hard 
woody acid fruits, we obtain, if the maturation have been com- 
plete some weeks after gathering, fruits which yield a sweet and 
sirupy juice." * The juice of the apple and pear, as well as that 
of the grape, gooseberry, currant, and other juicy fruits, contains, 
besides sugar, a substance called vegetable gluten, and, more 
commonly, ferment, because when acted upon by the air it excites 
that peculiar action called fermentation. This substance is much 
more abundant, or at least is much more active, in the expressed 
juice of unripe fruit than when it is arrived at perfect maturity. 
* Liebig. 
