the Mnhivrj of Cider and Perry. 
401 
jrround by monns of what is sometimps called a nut-mill — that is, 
two wooden rollers, thickly studded with strong blunt pegs of iron, 
and revolving in opposite directions, with a hopper to supply the 
apples, and generally turned by horse-power where there is any 
quantity of cider to make. The imperfection of this mill, not- 
withstanding some improvement it has in some cases undergone 
to give the pulji additional pressure, is, that the pulp is not suffi- 
ciently broken, and the pips or seeds are for the most part un- 
touched, both of which are very objectionable circumstances. In 
Herefordshire the apples are crushed by a large circular stone 
revolving in a circular stone trough, and drawn round by a horse. 
By this means the apples are more completely broken, and most 
of the seeds crushed, while the pulp is more effectually exposed 
to the action of the air, a matter of no small importance in 
the manufacture of cider. Formerly, the cider-press was an 
enormous fabric of wood, consisting of two massive pillars fixed 
in the ground, and connected by a sill or bed below, and a cross- 
beam above, which received the immense wooden screw, and both 
morticed through the pillars. A platform or bed of wood, deeply 
grooved round the edges and across the centre, with a lip to dis- 
charge the juice, rests upon the sill — this is about three or four 
feet wide ; a broad wooden plate attached to the screw, with a long 
wooden pole, a capstan, and rope, complete the apparatus. Such 
may even now be seen lingermg in some remote districts, but 
they have for the most part given way to more compact machines, 
with iron screws and posts or pillars, and so contrived as to render 
a common iron bar effectual without the aid of a capstan. A low 
long wooden trough receives the juice as it runs from the press. 
In apple countries, a cider-house supplies the place of a brew- 
house. It has generally a loft for the reception of the apples. 
Where much cider is made, a long building is generally attached, 
so contrived as to admit a free access of air, in which the cider is 
fermented, and sometimes stored. For either purpose the build- 
ing should be thatched, and made capable of being rendered open 
or close, as the season requires. 
The ordinary process of making cider, where it is not intended 
for sale, but merely for the consumption of the farm, is very 
simple. Quantity, rather than nice flavour, is the oliject most re- 
garded. As the apples fall they are collected, without selection, 
into heaps in the orchard, where they remain till they are mellow. 
They are then carried to the mill, and, when ground, the pulp is 
placed in a layer, about three inches deep, upon the bed of the 
press, a horsehair cloth having been laid under it ; the edges and 
corners of the cloth are then folded over the sides of the pulp, 
another cloth is laid on for another layer of pulp, and this is re- 
peated till there are about ten or a dozen layers. In order to keep 
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