Fanning of Devonshire. 
473 
as the blossom will set belter, and the fruit be more perfectly 
ripened. The produce of fruit varies much with the season, yet 
tiie alternate crops are generally superior to the intermediate ones, 
as if the tree, having exhausted itself by the production of a heavy 
))rop, required a period of rest to recruit its strength and vigour. 
Ten hogsheads of cider per acre may be taken as an average 
produce for this county, although it is nearly double in some 
seasons. 
That the present mode of manufacturing cider is very imper- 
fect and uncertain few will be disposed to deny, and the cause 
may be traced to the fact that the change they are anxious to 
effect is seldom fully understood. The apples having been 
gathered from the ground and trees, remain in heaps in the 
orchard for two or three weeks, when they are removed to the 
pound. The expressed juice* is collected in casks, where the 
fermentation commences. When this has sufficiently advanced 
it is racked into another cask, and if fermentation is observed 
again to commence it is racked a second time, and is similarly 
treated until this tendency to ferment is removed, frequently 
requiring it to be repeated a third and sometimes even a fourth 
time. Other means are occasionally employed when it becomes 
violent, such as the fumes of sulphur, or compounds of chalk, 
called anti-ferments. The former process imparts a peculiar 
flavour to the liquor, which is readily detected by peisons ac- 
customed to its use: it is technically termed "matching" the 
elder. Much of the sweet Devonshire cider sold in London and 
other places is thus treated, and afterwards rendered palatable by 
sugar and similar bodies. None of the plans in practice at pre- 
sent can be confidently relied on for stopping the fermentation : 
but the process of frequent racking is the one on which the 
majority depend. A brief consideration of the principles involved 
in the practice of cider making will enable us to discover the 
causes of failure, and may probably suggest the remedy. 
The indiscriminate mixture of apples is' a very defective part 
of the manufacture of cider, as the character of the juice is 
materially influenced by the ripeness of the fruit when crushed. 
To obtain cider of the best quality the apples must be so care- 
fully assorted in the heaps that the whole may become mellow at 
the same time. Farmers can generally judge correctly on this 
point, and little diff'.culty will arise in accomplishing it. The 
colour of the skin requires attention, as a careless mixture is incom- 
* In some parts the pulp, which remains in the press bags after the 
cider has been obtained, is replaced in the mill, and some water being 
added is again ground. The liquor afterwards separated is " water cider," 
and is a very pleasant drink, but will not keep long. The quantity of 
water added should be about one-tenth of the cider previously obtained. 
VOL. IX. 2 I 
