ttecent tmp'ovements in Cider and Perry Maliing. 191 
The method of treating the liquor in France during and 
after fermentation is much the same as that above given, witli 
two slisfht modifications. One of these is the addition of a small 
quantity of catechu, about 8 ozs, to 100 gallons of the liquor, 
when racked off; and the other the fumigation of the casks, 
which is always done, preferably by burning a little alcohol in 
them, or, should their condition be deemed at all doubtful, by 
burning sulphur. In the Channel Islands fermentation is 
allowed to take place in open vessels, the vessels being simply 
covered with a cloth, and the scum removed as it is formed. 
The clear liquor is then racked into sulphured casks, and if 
fermentation should again set in the operation is repeated. In 
America the same method as that adopted in England is usually 
carried out, with the addition of a little finely powdered charcoal 
to each ban-el when the liquor is racked off. 
After fennentation, the liquor will not always be found sufii- 
ciently clear, owing to the mucUage present, as the richer the 
juice the greater difficulty to obtain a bright liquor. In order 
to clear it, it is only necessaiy to dissolve from 1 oz. to 1^ oz. 
of isinglass in a little of the cold liquor and add it to the cask. 
This quantity is sufficient for 100 gallons. The same amount 
of fish glue, or the whites of a dozen eggs, will answer the same 
purpose. 
It will be noticed in the list of apples given that against 
some of them is placed the remark Cider turns black in the 
cup " ; this is due to the presence of a salt of iron in the liquor. 
The iron may not have necessarily come from any contact of the 
juice with that metal during the process of manufacture, as, 
according to experiments made in France, it appears that some 
particular kinds of fruit grown on a red soil take up the iron 
from it. 
The liquor having been safely can-ied tlu'ough its process of 
fermentation, nothing now remains for the cider-maker but to let it 
stand in the casks, at as an even temperature as possible, until the 
follo\^■ing spring, when it should be either racked off into smaller 
casks to be sent out to the consumer, or bottled. In racking off 
into smaller casks, great care should be taken that they are per- 
fectly clean and free from any smell. They should be absolutely 
without odour, or the liquor vdll take it up, when all the labour 
and care previously taken will be lost, for no fermentation or 
re-racking will bring back to the cider its agreeable perfume, 
when once lost. 
In bottling, the best bottles to use are champagne ones, as 
they are much stronger and not so liable to burst as those of 
other shapes. Good cider will keep in cask four or five years, 
and formerly it was the practice to bottle the liquor when it was 
