CYDER. 
431 
practice of gathering into heaps until the 
ripest begin to rot, is wasting the best of the 
fruit, and is by no' means an accurate criterion. 
Some shake the fruit, and judge by the rattling 
of the kernels ; others cut through the mid- 
dle, and judge by their blackness : but none 
of these appear to be a proper test. It is not 
the state Of the kernels, but of the flesh ; not 
of a .tew individuals, but of the greater part 
of the prime fruit ; which renders the collec- 
tive body fit or unfit to be sent to the mill ; 
the most rational test of the ripeness of the 
fruit is, that of the llesh having acquired such 
a degree of mellowness, and its texture such 
a degree of tenderness, as to yield to mode- 
rate pressure ; thus, when the knuckle or the 
end of the. thumb can with moderate exertion 
be forced into the pulp of the fruit, it is deem- 
ed in a lit state for grinding. 
4. Preparation for the mill. The proper 
management of the fruit is to keep the ripe 
and unripe fruit separate from each other; 
but this cannot be done without a consider- 
able degree oi labour ; for as, by numberless 
accidents, the ripe and unripe fruit are fre- 
quently confounded together, there cannot 
be any effectual method of separating, them 
except by hand ; and Mr. Marshall is of opi- 
nion, that this is one of the grand secrets of 
cyder-making, peculiar to those who excel in 
the business ; and he is surprised that it should 
not before this time have coine into common 
practice. 
5. Mixing fruit for liquor. Our author 
seems 'o doubt the propriety of this practice ; 
and informs us, that the finer liquors are made 
from select fruits ; and he hints, that it might 
be more proper to mix liquors after they 
are made, than to put together the crude 
fruits. 
II. Grinding, and management of the fruit 
when ground. — For the greater convenience 
of putting fruit into the mill, every mill should 
have a fruit-chamber over it, with a trap-door, 
to lower the fruit down into the mill. The 
best manner in which this can be accom- 
plished is to have the valve over the bed of the 
mill, and furnished with a hose or tunnel 
reaching clown to the trough in which the 
stone moves; no straw is used in the lofts, 
but sometimes the fruit is turned. In Here- 
fordshire it is generally believed, that grind- 
ing the rinds and seeds* of tire fruit as well as 
the fleshy part to a pulp, is necessary towards 
the perfection of the cyder, whence it is 
proper that even’ kind" of pains should be 
taken to perform the grinding in the most 
perfect manner. Mr. Marshall complains, 
that the nulls are so imperfectly finished by 
the workmen, that for the" first years 
they cannot perform their work in a proper 
manner. Instead of being nicely fitted to 
one another with the square and chisel, they 
are hewn over w ith a rough tool, in such a 
careless manner that horse-beans might lie 
in safety in their 'cavities. Some even ima-' 
gine that to he an advantage, as if, the fruit 
was more effectually and completely broken 
by rough than smooth stones. Some use 
fluted rollers of iron, but these will be cor- 
roded by the juice, and thus the liquor might 
be tinged. Smooth rollers will not lav hold 
the fruit sufficiently to force it through. 
Another improvement requisite in the cyder 
mills, is to prevent the matter in the trough 
from rising, before the stone in the last stage 
VOL. 1 . ° 
of grinding, and a method of stirring it up in 
the trough more effectually than can be clone 
at present. To remedy the former of these de- 
fects, it might perhaps be proper to grind the 
fruit first in the mill to a certain degree ; 
and then put it between tw’o smooth rollers 
to finish the operation in the most perfect 
maimer. It is an error to grind too much 
at once, as this clogs up the mill, and pre- 
vents it from going easily. The usual quan- 
tity for a micklle-sized mill is a bag: contain- 
ing four corn-bushels; but our author had an 
opportunity of seeing a mill in which only 
half a bag was put, and thus the work seemed 
to go on more easily and more quickly than 
when more was put in at once. The quantity 
put in at one time is to be taken out when 
ground. The usual quantity of fruit ground 
in a clay is as much as will make three hogs- 
heads of perry or two of cyder. 
Management of the ground fruit. Mr. 
Marshall condemns in very strong terms the 
practice of pressing the pulp of the fruit as 
soon as the grinding is finished, because thus 
neither the rind nor seeds have time to com- 
municate their virtues to the liquor, or to ex- 
tract these virtues in the most proper man- 
ner ; some allow the ground fruit to lie twenty- 
four hours or more after grinding, and even 
regrind it, in order to have, in the most per- 
fect manner, the flavour and virtues of the 
seeds and rind. 
III. Pressing the fruit, and management of 
the residuum. This is done by folding up the 
ground fruit in pieces of hair-cloth, and piling 
them up above one another, in a square frame 
or mould, and then pulling down the press 
upon them, which squeezes out the juice, and 
forms the matter into thin and almost dry 
cakes. The first runnings come off foul and 
muddy, but the last, especially in perry, will 
be as clear and fine as if filtred through pa- 
per. It is common to throw away the resi- 
duum as useless; sometimes it is made use 
of, when dry gs fuel ; sometimes the pigs will 
eat it, especially when not thoroughly squeez- 
ed ; and sometimes it is ground a second time 
with water, and pressed for an inferior kind of 
liquor used for the family. Mr. Marshall ad- 
vises to continue the pressure as long as a 
drop can be drawn. “ It is found (says he) 
that even by breaking the cakes of the refuse 
with the hands only, gives the press fresh 
power over it : for, though it has been pressed 
to the last drop, a gallon or more of addi- 
tional liquor may be got by this means: re- 
grinding them has a still greater effect ; in this 
state of the materials, the mill, gains a degree 
of power over the more rigid parts of the 
fruits, which in the first grinding it could not 
reach. If the face of the runner, and the 
bottom of the trough, were dressed with a 
broad, chisel, and made true to each other, 
and a moderate quantity of residuum ground 
at once, scarcely a kernel would escape un- 
broken, or a drop of liquor remain undrawn.” 
But though the whole virtue of the .fruit 
cannot be extracted without grinding it very 
fine, some inconveniences attend this prac- 
tice, as a part of the pulp thus gets through 
the hair-cloth, and may perhaps be inju- 
rious to the subsequent fermentation. This, 
however, may be in agreat measure remedied 
by straining the first runnings through a sieve: 
the whole should also be allowed to settle in 
a cask, and drawn oft’ into a fresh vessel pre 
vious to the commencement of the fermen- 
3 P 
tation. The reduced fruit ought to remain 
some time between the grinding and pressing, 
that the liquor may have an opportunity of 
forming an extract with the rind and kernels; 
but this must not be pushed too far, as in that 
case the colour of the Cyder would be hurt ; 
and the most judicious managers object to 
the pulp remaining longer than twelve hours 
without pressure ; “ thence (says our au- 
thor) upon the whole, the most eligible ma- 
nagement in this stage of the process appears 
lobe this: grind one press-full a day; press, 
and regrind the residuum in the evening;, 
infuse the reduced matter aft night among 
part ol the first runnings, and in the morning 
repress while the next press-full is grind- 
ing.” 
IV. Fermentation. The common practice 
Is, to have the liquor tunned, that is, put into 
casks or hogsheads, immediately from the 
press, and to fill them quite full ; but it is un- 
doubtedly more proper, to leave some space 
empty to be filled up afterwards. No accu- 
rate experiment has been made with regard 
to the temperature of the air proper to be 
kept up in the place where the fermentation 
goes on. 
Frost is prejudicial ; but when the process 
usually commences, that is, about the middle 
of October, the liquor is put into airy sheds, 
where the warmth is scarcely greater than in 
the open atmosphere ; nay, it is frequently 
exposed to the open air without any covering 
farther than a piece of tile or flat stone 
over the bung-hole, propped up by a- 
wooden pin on one side to cause the rain-water 
to run oil. In a complete manufactory 
of fruit liquor, the fermenting room should 
be under the same roof with the mill- 
house, a continuation of the press-room, or at 
least opening into it with windows or doors 
on every side, to give a free admission of air in- 
to it, with sufficient defence against frost ; fruit- 
lofts over it, and vaults underneath, for laying 
up the liquors after fermentation, with small 
holes in the crown of the arch to admit a hose 
or pipe for the purpose of conveying the 
liquors occasionally from the one to the 
other. 
In making of fruit-liquors no ferment is 
used, as in making of beer; though, from 
Mr. Marshall’s account of the matter, it 
seems tar from being unnecessary. Owing 
to this omission, the time of the commence- 
ment of the fermentation is entirely uncer- 
tain ; it takes place sometimes in one, two, 
or three days, sometimes not in a week or a 
month, after tunning; but it has been ob- 
served, that liquor which has been agitated in 
a carriage, though just taken from the press, 
will sometimes pass almost immediately into 
a state of fermentation. The continuance of 
the fermentation is no less uncertain than 
the commencement of it. Liquors, when 
much agitated, will go through it perhaps in 
one day ; but when allowed to remain at rest, 
the fermentation commonly goes on two or 
three days, and sometimes five or six. The 
fermenting liquor, however, puts on a differ- 
ent appearance according to circumstances ; 
when produced from fruits properly matured, 
it generally throws . ) a thick scum, resem- 
bling that of malt liquor, and of a thickness 
proportioned to the species and ripeness of 
the fruit ; the riper the fruit, the more 
scum is thrown up. Perry gives but little 
