243 
CIDER MAKING. 
chine is arranged in one compact body, upon a set 
01 heavy wagon wheels ; and including these, the 
whole weighs about 2,700 lbs. It may be drawn 
from one orchard to another by a single pair of 
horses, and is put in operation while standing on 
the wheels. With the power of one horse and the 
labor of two men and a boy, it is capable of ex- 
pressing from twelve to twenty barrels of cider per 
day. The apples are ground by four fluted cylin- 
ders, or nuts, which mash into each other, and are 
within the mill, as at E. These are driven by a 
horse attached to- the sweep C. Below the cylin- 
ders, is the press crib, made of perforated plank 
and grates, and when the falling pomace has 
formed a sufficient cheese in this, the follower 
planks and block F, are introduced upon the upper 
surface. The sweep G, is transferred to the heads 
of the screws; and the pressing is performed 
either by hand or horse power. A channel on the 
margin of the platform 0, conducts the cider, 
which issues through the sides of the crib, into 
the tubs. When the pressing is finished, the 
platform is lowered to the ground, the tubs and 
rear grate B, are removed, and the cheese is drawn 
out in a mass upon a separate, side platform, by a 
horse, to any convenient distance from the mill. 
The sweep is then placed upon the shaft H, of one 
of the cylinders, and the grinding is again com- 
menced. A band of iron, on each side, shown at 
D, confines the press beam to the platform during 
the pressure of the screws. 
Grinding and Pressing. — After the apples have 
sufficiently ripened, and rendered more saccharine, 
all those which appear to be what is called "black 
Cider Mill. — Fig. 54. 
rotten," should be- picked- out and thrown away ; 
and the remainder slowly subjected to the process 
of grinding, allowing a free access of air to the 
fruit till it is reduced to a homogeneous mass, in 
which the rinds and kernels are scarcely distin- 
guished from the pulp. This mass, usually called 
" pomace," may 'then be suffered to remain from 12 
to 24 hours, in the large tub or trough in which it 
is received, fully exposed to the air. It should then 
be made into a " cheese." by laying it on the press 
in alternate layers of straw, when, if the weather 
be cool, as it always should be, the longer it re- 
mains before pressing the better the cider, provided 
it escapes fermentation. In some cases, the pomace 
is suffered to remain a week or ten days 
after it is ground, before it is submitted to the press, 
stirring the mass every day. The cheese may then 
be pressed for 24 hours, and afterwards cut and 
made over, occasionally adding a little water, until 
it becomes sour from fermentation, when it should 
be abandoned and thrown away. The expressed 
juice, or cider, should pass through a hair sieve, or 
some similar substance, into a. large tub or vat, 
whence it is put up in hogsheads or barrels, not 
quite filled, to undergo the process of fermentation, 
fully exposed to the open air. 
Fermentation. — Much of the excellence of cider 
depends upon the temperature at which the fermen- 
tation is conducted ; but this is a point almost en- 
tirely overlooked by cider makers in general. In- 
