The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1888-11-02
FARM, FIELD AND GARDEN.
MATTER RELATING TO SUBJECTS
OF GENERAL INTEREST. nj,


Valuable Alike to Large and Small
Producers OF This Beverage-Thrsshing
Corn h~ Machinery.
October and. November are the usual
cider making months and the later it Is
made the better 1t viii keep. Good cider
cannot be made from defective. unripe or
partly rotten apples. and the use Of them
for making cider should In all cases be
avoided. Not half enough carols usually
taken In this respect. AS q matter OF
fact 1t will pay. even after oil unfit ones
have been rejected in gathering them. to
wash the fruit clean and spread 1t In the
sun to dry, even to the point of whiting,
for the more water that can be evaporated
from it at this stage the better the cider
will be. Another fact not very generally
known Is that the best table apples are
not tho ones that will make the best
cider.
The best machine for grinding apples
for the press is one that will crush them
rather than one that rasps or CRATES them
into pulp. For this purpose nothing is
better adapted to it for a farmers use
than the typical old fashioned cider mill.
consisting of u sweep, hopper, a re-
ceiving box and two upright wooden cyl
inders, where the one with cogs Is made
to turn the other, and the two crush the
apples as they fall between them from the
hopper. Other machines are in use where
greater capacity and speed are required,
but none that do better work. When
ground the pomace should lie in the
trough over night. or from ten to fifteen
hours, before it Is pressed. Straight.
clean straw is the best straining material
for laying up the cheese. and all tubs or
barrels used should be thoroughly cleansed
before second using.
Freezing and thawing will injure cider
greatly unless 1t Is drawn off ut once
from the ice, which may be left to re-
main, and when melted will be nothing
but water Cider thus drawn off will be
greatly improved by the abstraction Of
the frozen water. and there is no other
way In which the same amount Of water
can be taken from 1t without injury.
Evaporating the same quantity Of water
by boiling would ruin the cider for bev-
erage. Cider should on no account be d.
luted with water In any part Of the pro-
cess of making, and in storing 1t away
the cooler the temperature of the place.
so long as it does not freeze, the better 1t
will keep.
OF all the cider apples known. none are
better than those called the Virginia or
Hewes crab. This is a small apple lit
tie larger than the common wild crab, and
perfectly destitute Of any Of the good
qualities of an apple to be eaten. The
Harrison apple is another excellent sort for
cider. The trees are hardy and vigorous,
and except in unfavorable seasons, have
proved abundant bearers. When ripe,
the apple has better flavor than the
crab, but is rarely gathered for any other
purpose than cider, for which the juice so
nearly matches that Of the crab that
where they ore grown in tho same orchard
they are usually ground together The
red crab and Waugh's crab are also fine
cider apples.
Outside of the special cider apples, it is
the general experience that the fruit of
Seeding trees. or natural fruit, as it is
called, makes better cider than the more
popular varieties Of table apples.
When properly made, crab cider is
highly esteemed for it's good body and
sparkling quantities, and largo quantities
are no doubt manufactured and sold as
champagne. To treat it properly, it should
be cleansed from all foreign matter, scum
and sediment, without arresting fermen-
tation by scalding it. or by the use Of
chemicals. This should be done by letting
it stand in large open casks holding three
or four barrels until slight fermentation
has taken place, causing a considerable
scum to rise to the surface to be skinned
off, and to give time for the fine pulpy
particles held in solution to fall to the
bottom in the form of sediment.
The cider, after having thus purified it.
self, is drawn off through faucets placed
so high in the casks that the sediment
will not run out with it, and is either
barreled at once or more generally
strained into the barrels through filters
of clean sand, when it is stored in cool
cellar ready for sale or use. Occasionally
the suppressed fermentation will make it
necessary to give 1t vent temporarily,
which can be done with small gimlet at
the side of the bung The necessity for
doing this will be shown by bullying
outward of the heads from the great
pressure Of the gas from fermentation,
and when this is relieved the hole should
be stopped as soon as it may be without
causing the barrel to leak from the strain.
The treatment above is equally applicable
to cider made from apples of other varie-
ties. ,A'"