Preservation of Cider and Perry.—Commercial Aspect. 151 
time, the liquor becomes more clear and acquires additional aroma with its strength. 
Our ancestors well understood this, as the poet Philips shows :— 
“ Cyders in Metal frail improve ; the Moyle 
And tasteful Pippin , in a moons short Year 
Acquire compleat Perfection : Now they smoke 
Transparent, sparkling in each drop, Delight 
Of curious Palate, by fair Virgins crav’d. 
But harsher Fluids different length of time 
Expect: thy Flask will slowly mitigate 
The Elliots roughness, Stirom , firmest Fruit, 
Embottled, (long as Priameian Troy 
Withstood the Greeks') endures e’er justly mild. 
Softened by age it youthful Vigour gains, 
Fallacious drink ! Ye honest men beware 
Nor trust its Smoothiness ; the third circling Glass 
Suffices Virtue.” Philips “ CyderP 
Nor does the poet in any way exaggerate either the durability, or the strength of Cider. A 
supply of good Foxwhelp Cider, made in a good year, would have refreshed the warriors for twice 
or thrice the duration of the siege of Troy. It will retain its full flavour for 20 or 30 years, and 
a strength moreover that would require the three glasses of the poet, to be small ones. 
Cider or Perry in cask, of ordinary quality, does not travel well. It is apt to undergo renewed 
fermentation, and lose all its chief virtues. The Cider made in Normandy is chiefly used for sea¬ 
faring purposes, and the French chemists have had great difficulty in enabling it to bear the rolling 
of the ships at sea. It is with this view, as we have seen, that they add Tannin, and a small portion 
of Alcohol to the liquor after its first racking. Economy prevents them adding sufficient Alcohol 
to preserve it, and after a number of elaborate experiments, they found that the next best plan was 
to bring the Cider up to a high temperature by artificial heat, and they have established furnaces for 
this purpose in all their great manufactures. The process however does not improve the quality of 
the liquor, though it does not render it less effective in checking any tendency to scurvy. 
Good, well made Cider should however travel in cask any where in reason ; and it will safely 
do so, if its quality is what it always might be in Herefordshire. In bottle it travels well in cool 
weather. 
V.—THE ORCHARD IN ITS COMMERCIAL ASPECT. 
The quantity and value of Apples and Pears grown in this country are very insufficiently 
appreciated, for the good reason, that there are no statistics from which such information can be 
accurately drawn. The “ Agricultural Returns” last published by Parliament, for 1880, show that 
the amount of orcharding in England, that is “ The Acreage of Arable or Grass Land\ but tised for 
Fruit Trees of any kind” is 175,200 acres. Herefordshire stands highest in the list with 26,683 
acres ; Devon is next with 25,758 acres ; then comes Somerset with 22,993 ; Worcester, 15,854; 
Kent, 14,685; Gloucester, 14,178; and then, with a wide difference, Cornwall, 4,678; Dorset, 
3,716 ; Monmouth, 3,618 ; Middlesex, 3,249 ; Salop, 3,248 ; and the remainder is divided between 
