the Mahinr/ of Cider and Pcrri/. 
403 
shire, tlioufrli in many respects the practice differs materially in 
difierent districts. 
As the fruit falls, it is collected in heaps of about eight or ten 
inches deep, or is conveyed to an open airy shed or apple-loft. 
In collecting the apples for making the best cider, the green fruit 
is thrown aside. In these heaps the apples should remain some 
weeks, until thev becoino quite mellow. When conveyed to the 
mill all the decaved fruit are picked out. The pulp is thoroughly 
broken down bv the action of the mill, not only for the more per- 
fect extraction of the juice afterwards by the press, but also for the 
free admission of the air to every part of it. With this view the 
grinding should not be a hurried, but rather a slow operation ; 
for the more the pulp is exposed to the action of the air, the more " 
saccharine it liecomes, and the cider will l)e the less liable to vio- 
lent fermentation in the cask. The pulp is allowed to remain 
exposed to the air four-and-twenty hours before it is conveyed to 
the press, in order to obtain as large an absorption of air as pos- 
sible. In some instances the pulp is only slightly pressed^ again 
spread to the air for some time, and afterwards returned to the 
expressed juice and pressed again. With such or similar pre- 
parations as the above, the increased richness of the juice, the 
diminished energy of the ferment, and the low temperature of the 
season, are all favourable to that moderate degree of fermentation 
which is requisite for making sweet cider. When the liquor is 
put into the casks a considerable hullage or space between the 
bung and the surface of the liqvior should be left, to allow a freer 
access of air, and the casks should be placed in an open and airy 
place, as in confined places or cellars the cider ferments too 
rapidly. If. notwithstanding this precaution, the fermentation 
becomes very active, the liquor should be immediately racked off, 
and the operation repeated if it again occurs. The too great 
activity is indicated by a loud hissing noise, which is heard upon 
applying the ear to the bung-hole. The fermentation sometimes 
commences in a day or two, and at others not for many days, or 
even a fortnight or three weeks, according to the strength of the 
juice and the temperature of the season. When the fermentation 
has ceased, which may be known by the liquor becoming clear, 
it should be immediately racked into well-scalded and dried 
casks ; these casks, as before, should not be quite filled, and their 
buno;-holes merely covered. Great attention should be given to 
prevent any recurrence of active fermentation ; upon the least ap- 
pearance of which racking must instantly be resorted to, until 
the cider becomes permanentlv tranquil. The dregs of the fer- 
menting casks should be filtered through a conical flannel-bag, 
spread at the iriouth and susjicnded hy a hoop. In the operation 
of racking, the finer the stream the niore effectual will it be in 
