260 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
the roads, but the draft of a cart or wagon is con¬ 
siderably less with such wheels than with narrower 
ones. The reason for this is, that as,the broad 
wheels sink into the ground less, the traction is also 
less ; when a wheel sinks into the ground, the draft 
is increased, as it has to overcome an elevation in 
front of it, or what is equivalent thereto. This may 
be proved by an attempt to move a loaded wheel¬ 
barrow on soft ground into which the wheel sinks. 
Cider Making and Cider Presses. 
One October day during the Centennial Exhi¬ 
bition, as we approached tue Agricultural Hall, we 
found men engaged in spreading large squares of 
cotton cloth that were of different 
shades of brown. Thinking these 
had something to do with experiments 
with dyeing materials, we made inquiry 
and found that they belonged to a cider, 
press that was in operation within the 
building. It took but a few minutes to 
look up the press that used the cloths, 
which we found to be one made by the 
Boomer & Boschert Press Co., of Syra¬ 
cuse, N. Y., which was not in opera¬ 
tion just then. There are some ma¬ 
chines that are so simple, and so well 
adapted to their work that they tell their 
own story at a glance. This press was 
one of these ; its construction show¬ 
ed such a combination of mechanical 
powers that any one at all familiar with 
machinery would see at once that 
the machine was a most effective one: 
that an apple that found itself under 
its influence would be separated into 
“juice” on the one hand and pomace 
on the other in the most complete man¬ 
ner and in the shortest possible time. 
The press, as we there saw it, was 
of the form shown in the engraving. 
Very unlike this to the old-fashioned 
cider-press, many of which in the older 
States can be seen in various stages of 
decay. There was a great deal of the 
picturesque about cider-making in the 
old way. If it did not require a great 
deal of help, there was an abundance of help at 
hand, for the boys made it the occasion of a holi¬ 
day, and older boys did not despise sweet cider. 
The massive grinder and more massive press, with 
its enormous, rather rude and always noisy screw ; 
the laying up the cheese with straw; the jokes 
about wetting the straw ; the odor of the ripe fruit 
and the very different odor of the soured pomace, 
were all accompaniments, which those who have 
of fact affair, with not a particle of sentiment— 
but an awful amount of squeeze—about it. The 
machine here illustrated is for steam or other 
power, but smaller ones constructed on the same 
principle, are made to work by hand. It will be 
seen that the press is essentially of that form known 
as a toggle press, in which the power is produced 
by straightening a kneed lever. This power was 
long ago used in the printing press, and is now 
seen in various modifications in cotton, hay, and 
other presses. In this cider press the toggle is 
worked by a screw, and the combined forces of two 
important mechanical powers, the screw and the 
lever, are brought into play. In the press here 
shown the screw, is turned by power, and in the 
smaller ones by a hand lever. The makers claim 
that this combination “ moves quickly at first, when 
Fig. 3.—BREAKING STONES FOR ROAD. —(See p. 
participated in such a scene, on a glorious October 
morning, will vividly recall, though many years have 
passed. The old press made cider, and good cider 
—if the apples were such—but very slowly. As 
we stood before this machine we saw that the 
poetry had departed from cider making, as here 
was something that meant business—a very matter 
& boschert’s power cider-press. 
a small amount of power is needed, but increasing 
power and decreasing in motion as the substance 
becomes more and more dense, until at last, when 
the greatest pressure is required, we secure it in 
the most marked degree.” The press is accompa¬ 
nied by a grater especially contrived to reduce the 
apples as fine as possible. Another peculiarity of 
this press is in the use of strong cotton cloth 
to hold the pulp in laying up 
the cheese, and in the use of 
racks to facilitate the flow of the ~ 
expressed juice ; these are shown 
in the engraving. To insure rapid 
working, a double platform is used, 
like that’in the illustration; while 
one cheese is under pressure an¬ 
other is laid up, and by means of a 
crank and gearing, not here shown, 
the fresh cheese is brought under 
the press, as soon as the exhaust¬ 
ed one is removed. The cheese 
is 4 ft. 8 in. square, and the por¬ 
tion in each cloth 4 inches thick; 
the rise of the follower is 3 ft. 
Working at an ordinary rate, it is 
arranged to run down in an hour, 
20 to 25 minutes are allowed for 
drawing and changing the cheese ; 
at this rate seven pressings can be 
made in 10 hours, with an average of 12 barrels to 
the pressing, or 70 to 80 bbls. a day is given as its 
capacity. At the Centennial Exhibition the press 
bore the placard, “ Ordinary capacity, 60 Barrels in 
10 hours,” a claim which was so frequently criti¬ 
cised, that the makers proposed a trial and announc¬ 
ed that on Oct. 26th, “ 100 bbls. of cider would be 
made on this Press from 800 bushels of Apples in 
10 Hours.” The trial was made on the appointed 
day, under the supervision of gentleman well known 
in the agricultural world. The result was, that 
116 bbls. and 22 gallons were made from 8711 bush, 
of apples in 9 hours and 45 minutes. The names 
of persons residing in several different States, who 
have this press in use, show that it has been adopt¬ 
ed by many of the leading cider and vinegar 
makers in the principal apple growing localities. 
A Rustic Gate. 
A farmer friend, who takes more than usual in¬ 
terest in horticulture, some time ago gave us a 
sketch of a rustic gate, constructed by one of his 
neighbors, and thought it deserving of publication. 
We have had the sketch engraved, but we fear it 
may not please our friend when he finds we have 
done so, if not for the purpose of showing others 
What not to do, at least to use it as a text for a few 
remarks on rustic work in general. There are 
places in which such a rustic gate may be appropri¬ 
ate, but it is not at the entrance to a farm, or at the 
approach to a large family residence or homestead. 
If a gate and gate-way are made conspicuous at all,, 
then their expression should be that of permanence, 
and of dignity, neither of which are conveyed by 
the gate here shown. It if a great fault of much 
of the rustic work now made, in the minor articles, 
of baskets, chairs, and seats, as well as in the more 
important structures of gates, pavilions, summer¬ 
houses, etc., that they not only do not look perma¬ 
nent, but are really slightly put together and frail. 
This remark does not apply to all rustic work, as 
some of the regular builders are very thorough in 
this respect, but in the work of amateurs, and in 
some of that found in the market, more thought ap¬ 
pears to be given to the ingenious fitting of crooked 
sticks, than to the enduring character of the struc¬ 
ture. There is scarcely anything about a place that 
gives more trouble by getting out of order, than a 
much used entrance-gate. Even when built with 
all the care that can be given to straight timber, 
and braced and bolted in the most approved man¬ 
ner, it often calls for repairs to the gate or gate-way. 
■When it comes to the irregular forms used in rustic 
work, the difficulty of making a durable job greatly 
increases, and we have not seen a gate of this kind 
that did not soon become a nuisance. If one feels 
that he must build a rustic gate, then let it be put 
together in every part with bolts, and extra care be 
taken in the bracing, even to some sacrifice of 
“ rusticity.” Nor do we consider the flower-vases 
upon the posts as an example to be copied. In our 
climate plants in vases must be watered ; here they 
are too inaccessible for convenient watering, and 
if at a distance from the house, the plants will be 
A RUSTIC ENTRANCE GATE. 
very likely to present, in August, an appearance 
very far from ornamental. While for a summer 
cottage, or some such locality, a rustic gate may be 
in keeping with the surroundings, we cannot advise 
any one to place it at the entrance to a perma¬ 
nent home. In well ordered communities, where 
cattle are not permitted to run at large, no gate 
at all, or one always open, is usually the rule, 
and a rustic affair only looks well when shut. 
