The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-01-05
English and French Cider Making.

been classed in two distinct categories
divided from one another by geograph-
ical separation. In the Devonshire dis
trict, including Somersetshire and parts
OF Dorset and Cornwall, the trees are
planted more closely together, Abso-
lutte freedom is allowed for Nature to
work out her own labors; no digging or
manurlng of roots, no pruning, no thin
ming out of the produce is attempted.
The greater part of the crop is left to
drop by itself from the trees, and that
part OF it which is earliest ripe is left
to be gathered in together with the
other part which is late. Aged trees
are left standing with all their venera-
BILE defects upon them-the moss-grown
trunks, the daddicky Cor rotten)
branches, and top-heavy heads side
by side with young comrades planted
In places where some defunct ancestor
has fallen or died of old age. In the
actual process of cider making there
are also some differences. The Devon
ian farmer, when his apples have been
crushed in the stone trough, spreads
his 'cheese" in layers between plat
forms of straw and works weight
down on the top of them by means of
lever. In the Hereford district, includ-
ing parts of Worcestershire and Glou-
cester, the more elaborate device is fol-
lowed of collecting the cheese into
horse-hair cloths, which are superlm-
posed one upon the other and pressed
by screw working upon the movable
top of sort of box. But this is only
one instance of the greater care which
,,;r5,e Herefordshire people bestow upon
E't;Seir work. In that region the trees
are planted wider, and the soil between
them is dug or plowed, as long at least
as the trees are young. Moreover, the
orchards, instead of occupying for cen
turies the selfsame patch of ground,
are often planted afresh in a
new site, used until the trees
are worn out, and the field then again
ploughed up as arabic land. A Here
fordshire farmer does not disdain to
know the names of the apples he grows
nor to dress the ground about each tree,
nor to prune it; and sometimes even to
thin the fruit. He is apt to aspire to q
sort of classification of the crop, and
brew for himself or for the market q
superior tap, while leaving the less val
liable apples to serve for common pur-
poses In aword, he occupies the mid
die place between the hadpy-go-lucky
small farmer of Southwest England and
the most skillful and panstaking cult
vators of the best districts in Western
France.
French cider making is believed to
be of much earlier origin than English
and to have been going on before the
time of the Roman occupation. 1t is
recorded, indeed, of Rhadegonda, one
of the thirsty sixth-century queens
that'she was particularly fond of perry
made in the South of France. And in
the Middle Ages large quantities of it
were made in the abbey lands and con
sumed by the clergy, who very conven-
iently established the maxim that this
was drink permissible on fast days.
The word "cider' is said to be of He
brew origin; and the manufacture is
supposed to have passed over to the
Basque lands from Africa, where no
doubt it was profitable enough in the
splendid garden grounds which, before
the Saracen invasion, covered all the
northern coast. But as popular drink
it was probably sooner recognized in
England than in France, where it did
not secure any large public favor till at
least the seventeenth century, during
most of which it waged a desperate
battle with the older-e established Ger
roiSe, or small-beer. But before the
middle of the last century it had begun
to constitute one of the chief riches of
the Norman and Breton farms, and has
for century past superseded both beer
and wine in the farms and cottages,
and even the country inns, of the de-
partments bordering on the English
Channel.
1t is stated that in the whole of
France there are now more than 4,000,-
900 cider-apple trees, which, if planted
side by side, would line boulevard
about $4,000 miles long. The average
annual production is set down as more
than 220,000,00O gallons. At present
the most productive department is He
et-Vilane, in Brittany; but the three
which stand next on the list are all in
Normandy, and it is in the latter prov
ince that the most high priced cider is
made. There the premier cru is pro
duced in the Auge country. It is Of a
dark brown hue, and is mixed with
water for drinking or bottling. The
second quality is made in Caux and
Bray. and the Breton department al
ready named 1t is of bright amber
color, and also esteemed too strong to
be drank meat" The third cru comes
from the Norman district of Bocage
and from parts of Brittany, and is Of a
pale color, not capable, except in the
most favorable seasons, of being kept
over twelvemonth.
The process used in the two countries
is not very dissimilar; but the French
have an ingenious device for ascertain
ing when fermentation has set in.
They light wax match and hold it over
the vat, when if it is extinguished by
the rising gas, the maker knows that it
is time to draw the liquor Off into an
other receptacle. The other mysteries
of the manufacture-the burning of a
sulphur-tipped stick in half-tilled bar
rels, the addition of divers chemicals
and other compounds, the watching and
doctoring and shifting from vat to vat
are too elaborate to be here detailed or
compared; though it may be noted that
in France much more use seems to be
made of sugar and olive-oil as preserv-
atives against sourness. But it cannot
be denied that the whole art is still in