View to avail themselves of the critical moment for this opera¬ 
tion. It is but seldom that cider wants yeast in this climate 
to excite it to work. The fermentation is retarded by the 
cold, and when it is hurried on by the heat, a part of the spirit 
is carried off with the gas.* 
* Gas is to be found in the three kingdoms of Nature. That aeriform 
substance, which, in its fixed state, constitutes an essential part to the 
development of seeds, by being susceptible of detaching itself from them 
through the action of fire or fermentation, affords a method at once quick 
and easy to ascertain whether they are good or bad. If they retain their 
vegetable faculty, after being swollen by the expansion of the gas and 
moisture they contain, they will burst with a noise. If, on the contrary, 
the texture of their organisation is destroyed, they will burn without any 
explosion. One may immediately distinguish which seeds may be de¬ 
pended upon, by setting them on glowing embers, or a shovel nearly red 
hot. 
CHAPTER 
