38$ 
Asto the cloths, linen ones get too thick, and last but little ; 
the hair ones cost from seven to eight shillings each. There 
must be from twenty-four to thirty cloths, each of them four 
feet square, to lay one cheese perfectly well ; the thinner the 
layers are, the better and more expeditiously it is pressed out. 
With a view to do the work easily, it is right to provide ano¬ 
ther set for change, so that tjie whole together may amount to 
about 20I. On the other hand, these cloths may last from 
twenty to thirty years, they drain the cheese completely, and 
are not, in the least, injurious to the cider; they also keep 
the room in the most exact state of cleanliness, and as the 
work is commonly done by candle light, they prevent the 
danger of fire, which the reed might occasion; add to this, 
that the second pressing for small cider is more easy when the 
cheese is not encumbered with reeds. After having fora long 
time practised both methods, I have, at length, given a de¬ 
cided preference to the latter; I am persuaded that, indepen¬ 
dently of its other advantages, and that even supposing, as I 
I do, the cloths to be double the number of what is strictly 
necessary, it is in the end the more economical. 
As this practice is very little known in the island, the fol¬ 
lowing description of it may be useful to such a§ may wish to 
avail themselves of it. 
By means of a board of three-fourths of an inch thick, and 
four or five inches wide, there must be formed between four 
slight pillars, (which are removed as soon as the work is done) 
a square frame of three feet, laid on the middle of the press 
board; having spread on this frame a hair cloth, the edges of 
which fall down equally on all sides, and thrown into it a few 
shovel-fulls of cheese, it must be laid even with the hand or 
with a wooden trowel ; the edges of the cloth are then turnetl. 
tip and laid even with the cheese, and the same process is re¬ 
peated for a second and third layer; after that the frame is 
raised up, and in this manner the work is continued perpendi¬ 
cularly to almost three feet high ; when it is finished, the 
board must be placed horizontally upon it, and then it is 
screwed down. 
The cheese must then be pressed gently,till it has yielded a 
part of tiie cider it contained, and acquired some consistency ; 
it is seldom necessary to screw it down more than once at my 
press, and never more than twice. Such a cheese may be laid 
in less than an hour, is pressed dry in three or four, and yields 
about two hogsheads of cider. 
A pair of wooden shoes must be solely appropriated to the 
use of the press ; this sort of shoeing is the most suitable to it; 
the effluvia of dung and other filth impair the cider, especially 
when it is new. The excrement ofthe horse grinding the fruit, 
ought not to be neglected to be quickly carried away. 
canale may be seen at three miles distance. This gives the diameter of a 
circle of six miles, and a circumference of above eighteen miles. The can¬ 
dle lightens horizontally all the parts of this space, more or les3, which 
WPuld fill a sphere of mote than 113 square miles. 
* CHAPTER 
I 
