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[Vi] 
were it otherwise, the minute description of the machinery and pro¬ 
cesses necessary would much exceed the intended limits of the pre¬ 
sent publication. I shall therefore only give a general outline of 
the most approved practice; and I must refer the reader, who 
wishes for further information, to a small work upon that subject, in 
which I have detailed every particular which will be found neces¬ 
sary to the inexperienced planter.* 
- The art of making fine cider and perry is exceedingly simple, 
when proper varieties of fruit, in a perfect state of maturity, can be 
obtained. Such fruit should remain in heaps of not more than 
twelve inches deep, in the open air till it has become perfectly 
mellow, and it should then be ground in a mill of stone till the 
pulp and rind are perfectly reduced, and have acquired a deep and 
uniform brown colour. The juice is then expressed, and placed in 
casks to ferment, where it is as soon as possible separated from its 
grosser lees; and excess of fermentation is prevented by placing 
the casks in a cool and airy situation, and by drawing off the liquor 
from one cask to another. 
An opinion is very generally entertained that fine ciders and per¬ 
ries can be obtained from a few particular soils only; but this opi¬ 
nion has been derived from ill-conducted experiments made with 
improper varieties of fruit; and I believe there are very few soils 
in which apples will grow, in which one amongst the five new vm- 
rieties of the apple, which are represented in the annexed plates, 
will not afford cider of great excellence. The short period rvithin 
which these varieties have come first into existence has not per¬ 
mitted sufficient experiments to be made, by which it can be ac¬ 
curately ascertained to what kind of soil each is best adapted; but 
'I shall nevertheless endeavour to direct the planter, as far as I am 
enabled by such observations as I have had opportunities of 
making. 
* Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear, third Edition. 
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