WORK OF 1901-2. 21 
best results could not be anticipated; yet the experiment was, all 
things considered, a success. Several other experiments were under- 
taken in the autumn of 1901, but only two are reported, because the 
other tests were made in large casks purchased from an old wine cellar 
which were in such bad condition that they could not be properly 
cleansed, and the experiments failed. The two experiments here 
reported were carried on in the 50-gallon casks above mentioned. 
Bulletin No. 71, Bureau of Chemistry, treats of the general and theo- 
retical considerations in cider making; hence these phases of the ques- 
tion are not discussed again in this report. 
CASK EXPERIMENTS NOS. 2 AND 3. 
The plan of the experiment was very simple. The must or juice 
was taken from the same vat and came from one bulk of fruit; it was 
divided among several casks, and sown with different yeast races at the 
same time. Thus the results produced by these yeasts could be com- 
pared, as the same must was handled under identical conditions, the 
only variant being the yeasts. 
The experiment was begun on September 24, 1901, on which date 
casks Nos. 2 and 3 were filled with juice freshly expressed. This 
juice tested on the hydrometer 1.050, which would indicate a sugar 
content of 10.15 per cent. A full analysis was not made. At 3 o'clock 
p. m. of the same day these barrels were sown as follows: No. 2 with a 
pure culture of about 1 pint of sterilized cider, which had been inocu- 
lated with Sauterne yeast, known in the station laboratoiy as No. 73. 
Cask No. 3 was inoculated with about 1 pint of a pure culture made 
from Vallee d'Auge yeast, known as No. 71. Both cultures were 
sown when in full vigor and grew promptly, dominating the entire 
fermentation. The Sauterne yeast, No. 73, was isolated from French 
Sauterne wines, and No. 71 from cider from the famous Vallee 
d'Auge cider country in Normandy, France. After inoculation both 
barrels were stoppered with vents which permitted the escape of the 
gas formed in the barrels and yet prevented the entrance of extraneous 
organisms from the air. a 
The casks were sown with this considerable quantity of an active 
yeast culture in order to secure the prompt growth of a pure yeast in 
each cask before the ordinary "wild" organisms present in the juice 
could grow and take possession of the fermentation. A microscopic 
examination of small samples of liquor removed from the casks, made 
each day from September 25 to 28, showed an abundant growth of 
pure yeast with apparently no occurrence of deleterious organisms. 
By the afternoon of September 26 both casks were in full femienta- 
«A discussion of this device is given in Bulletin No. 71, Bureau of Chemistry, 
U. 8. Department of Agriculture, pp. 82 to 86. 
