460 
CYDER. 
t 
that the excellence of the liquor should de- 
pend rather on a lucky accident tlvan on 
good management: yet such .appears to be 
really tbe case, even amongst the. most expe- 
rienced cyder-makers of Herefordshire and 
.Gloucestershire. 
Yr. Marshall, that nice observer ot rural 
affairs, in ins late tour through those counties 
(expressly undertaken for the purpose of in- 
quiry on this subject), informs us, that 
'scarcely two of the professional makers are 
agreed as to the management of some of the 
most essential parts of the process ; that 
palpable errors are committed, as to the time 
and manner of gathering the fruit, in laying it 
up, in neglecting to separate the unsound, 
and to grind properly the rinds, kernels, &c. 
that the method of conducting the vinous 
fermentation, the most critical part of the 
operation, and which stamps the future value 
ot the liquor, is by no means ascertained ; 
for while sonic promote tiie fermentation in a 
•spacious open vat, others repress it, by in- 
closing the liquor in- a hogshead, or strive to 
prevent it altogether; that no determinate 
point ot temperature is regarded, and that 
the use of the thermometer is unknown or 
neglected ; that they are as little consistent 
as to the time of racking off, and whether 
this- ought to be done only once, or five or 
'six times repeated ; that for fining down the 
liquor many have recourse to that odious ar- 
ticle bullock’s blood, when the intention 
might be much better answered by whites of 
eggs or isinglass ; and finally, that the ca- 
pricious taste of particular customers is ge- 
nerally consulted, rather than the real excel- 
lence of the liquor ; and consequently that a 
■ very imperfect liquor is often vended, which 
tends to reduce the price, to disgrace the 
iVender, and to bring the use of cyder and 
perry into disrepute. 
The art of making vinous liquors is a cu- 
rious cljemical process: and its success chiefly 
depends on a dextrous management of the 
vinous fermentation, besides a close attention 
to several minute circumstances, the theory 
of. which is not, perhaps, yet fully understood 
by the ablest chemists. 
'The- general method of preparing cyder 
,aiul perry is very much the same. The niill 
is not essentially different from that of a 
common tanner’s mill for grinding bark ; it 
consists of a mill-stone from two feet and a 
half to four, and a half in diameter, running 
.on its edge on a circular. .stone-trough, from 
/line to twelve, inches in thickness, and from 
.one te two tons in weight: the bottom of the 
trough in which this stone runs is somewhat 
wider than the thickness of the stone itself; 
the inner side of the groove rises perpendi- 
cularly, bill the outer is bevelled in such a 
.manner as to make the top of the trough six or 
eight inches wider than the bottom, by which 
means there is room for the stone to run 
Freely, and likewise for putting in the fruit, 
and stirring it up while grinding. ' The bed 
of a middle-si/ed mill is about nine feet, 
some ten, and some twelve ; the whole being 
composed of two, three, or four stones, 
cramped together, and finished after being 
cramped in this manner: the best stones are 
.found in the forest of Dean, generally a 
dark-reddish gritstone, not calcareous; for if 
it was of a calcareous quality the acid juice of 
ihe fruits' would act upon it and spoil the li- 
quor;, a dean-grained grindstone grit is the 
fittest for the purpose. The runner is moved 
by means of an axle passing through the 
centre, with a long arm reaching without the 
bed of the mill, for a horse to draw by ; on 
the other side is a shorter arm, passing 
through the centre of the stone, as repre- 
sented in the figure. An iron bolt, with a 
large head, passes through an eye in the 
lower part of the swivel, on which the stone 
turns into the .end of the inner arm of the 
axis ; and thus the double motion of it is ob- 
tained, and the stone kept perfectly upright. 
There ought also to be fixed on the inner 
arm of the axis, about a foot from the run- 
ner, a cogged wheel, working in a circle of 
cogs fixed upon the bed of the mill ; the 
use of these is to prevent the runner from 
sliding, which it is apt to do when the mill is 
full ; it likewise makes the work more easy 
for the horse : these wheels ought to be made 
with great exactness. Mr. Marshall ob- 
serves, that it is an error to make the horse 
draw by traces. “ That acting point of 
draught (says he), the horse’s shoulders, 
ought, for various reasons, to be applied im- 
mediately at the end of the arm of the axis ; 
not two or three yards before it, perhaps in a 
small mill near one-fourth of its circumfer- 
ence.” The building in which the mill is in- 
closed ought to be of such a s’ze that the 
horse may have a path of three feet v ide be- 
twixt the mill and the wall, so that a mid- 
dling-sized mill, with its horse-path, takes 
up a space of fourteen or fifteen feet even- 
way. d’he whole dimensions of the null- 
house, according to our author, to render it 
any way convenient, are twenty-four feet by 
twenty ; it ought to have a floor thrown over 
it at the height of seven feet, with a door in 
the middle of the front, and a window oppo- 
site, with the mill on one side and the press 
on the other side of the window: the latter 
must be as near the mill as convenience will 
allow, for the more easy conveying the 
ground fruit from the one to the other. The 
press, of which the principle will be under- 
stood from the figure, has its bed or bottom 
about five feet square : this ought to be made 
entirely either of wood or of stone, the 
practice of covering it with lead being now' 
universally known . to be pernicious. It lias 
a channel cut a few inches within its outer 
edges, to catch the liquor as it is expressed, 
and convey il to a lip formed by a projection 
on that side of the bed -opposite the mill ; 
having under it a stone trough or wooden 
vessel, sunk within the ground, when (he bed 
is fixed low, to receive it. The press is 
worked with levers of different lengths, first 
a short, and then a moderately long one, 
botli wmrked by hand ; and lastly, a bar, 
eight or nine feet long, worked by a capstan 
or w indlass. The expence of fitting up a 
mill-house is not very great. Mr. Marshall 
computes it from twenty, to twentv-five 
pounds, an l on a small scale from KM o* 15 
pounds, though much depends on the di>- 
tahce and carriage of the stone: when once 
fitted up it will last many years. 
The making of the fruit-liquors under con- 
sideration requires an attention to the follow- 
ing particulars : 
i, l he fruit. IF The grinding. III. 
Pressing, IV. Fermenting. V. Correct- 
ing! VI. Laying up. VII Bottling. Each ■ 
of these heads is subdivided into several 
others, 
t 
1. In the management of the fruit, the: 
following particulars are to be considered: 
F 'i'he time ot gathering ;— which varies 
according to the nature of the fruit. '1 he earl y 
pears are fit forthemiii in September ; but few 
a Pl>les are ready for gathering before Mi- 
chaelmas; though, from accidental cir- 
cumstances, they are frequently manufac- 
tured before that time ; for sale cyder and 
keeping drink, they are suffered to hang upon 
the trees till fully ripe; and the middle of* 
October is generally looked upon to be a 
proper time for gathering the stire apples. 1 
The criterion of a degree of ripeness is, the ] 
Fruit falling from the tree; and to force it j 
away before that time, in Air. Marshall’s j 
opinion, is robbing it of some of its most valu- ! 
able properties ; “ the harvesting of fruit (says ] 
he) is widely different in this respect from the 
harvesting of grain, which has the entire plant j 
to feed it after the separation from the soil ; 
while fruit, after it is severed frpm the tree, j 
is cut off from ail .possibility of a further j 
supply of nourishment ; and although it may 
iniv e. reached its wonted size, some. of its more j 
essential particles are undoubtedly left behind i 
in the tree.” Sometimes, however, the fruits j 
which are late in ripeningare apt to hang on i 
the tree until spoiled by frosts, though w eak ] 
w atery fruits seem to be most injured in this j 
manner; and. Mr. Marshall relates an instance j 
of very fine liquor being made from golden 1 
pippins, after the fruit had been frozen as 1 
hard as ice. 
2. The method of gathering. This, as ge- j 
neraliy practised, is directly contrary to the I 
principles laid down by Mr. Marshall, viz. | 
beating them down with Jong slender poles, j 
An evident disadvantage of tins method is, that 
the fruit is of unequal ripeness ; for the apples 
on thesame tree will differ many days, perhaps 1 
even weeks in their time of coming to perfec- ] 
tion, whence some part of the richness and ] 
flavour of the fruit will be effectually and 
irremediably cut off. Nor is this (he only ] 
ev.l to be dreaded; for as every thing de- ] 
pends on the fermentation it has to undergo, j 
if this is interrupted, or rendered complex ] 
by a mixture of ripe and uimipe fruits, and j 
the liquor is not, in the first instance, suffici- 1 
ently purged from its feculencies, it is diffi- ] 
•cult to clear it afterwards. The former de- 1 
feet the cyder-makers attempt to. remedy, 1 
by a mixture of brown sugar . and brandy, ] 
and the latter by bullock’s blood and brim- 
stone ; hut neither of these can be expected j 
to answer the -purpose very effectually. .The j 
best;' method of -avoiding the inconveniences 1 
arising from an unequal ripening of the fruit 3 
is, to go over the trees twice, once with a hook 
when the fruit begins to fall spontaneously-; I 
the second time when the latter are sufficiently ] 
ripened, or when the winter is likely to set j 
in, wjien the trees are to be cleared with the I 
poles above-mentioned. 
3. Maturing-. the gathered fruit. . This is ] 
usually done by making it into heaps, as j 
lias been already mentioned : but Mr. Mar- 1 
shall entirely disapproves of the practice ; | 
because, when the whole are laid in a heap 1 
together, the -ripe fruit will begin to rot ] 
before; the other lias arrived at that degree j 
■of art ificial ripeness ixyhid? it is capable of ac- j 
quiring. “ The due degree of maturation of j 
fruit for liquor,” he observes, “ is a subject • 
about which men, even, in this district,' dif- . 
fer much in their ideas. The. prevailing 
’ #*■ 
