Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-08

department takes the View that men are
gong TO drink SO long as they have tnroats
ana II they Will drink, the American FARMER
had just as we'll furnish them good urinka-
pies and smokabi at remunerative ngures
as to leave to the foreigner any part OF the
business that could be just as well done t
home.
Mr.. Alwood's Study Abroad
1t is because of this that the department
scne tine ago sent Mr.. Atwood abroad to
STUDY cider-naking. and it was found mat
with the proper mother ferments this coun-
Try could from ordinary apples produce just
as good cider as any made abroad. When
IL Is realized that we make very little good
cider in this country, and that there are
ABOUT 1oo,OCo,OO0 bushels of apples wasted
OF almost wasted every year, it can be
seen that cider business once established
here would have lot of good raw material
to work on.
NOW cfder-making in Europe Is reduced
tC science. England, southern Germany,
NORMANDY and several other localities all
make excellent cider. not such as IS con-
sumed in this country, but almost wine in
appearance and taste. 1t is a palatable
ana healthful drink and the result of long
cultivation of orchards and generations of
experience and experiment In the business.
nu' the department found that while there
were rev, If any, strictly cider apples
grown In this country, it was possible to
MAKE cider exactly like any of the foreign
brands II only the right ferments or yeasts
were available. The expert of the depart
ment could take the Juice OF a lot of mixed
American apples and make from the same
vat of must forty different sorts of cider
simply by adding the different ferments
Some of the samples were good, some were
uildrlhkabie and others were suoerlatively
Hne these yeaStS were all collected and
propa gated and TASKS sent to the d. fferent
people who We're wiling to use them under
proper conditions.
The result has been to largely improve
the cider output in certain localities but
the work has lately ceased through the III
ness of Mr.. Atwood and it is a question
how soon 1t can be resumed
Immense Crop of Apples.
1t is hard to get statistics of apple grow
Ing. OF course, all that find their way into
the channels of commerce are easily ac-
counted for, and this crop reached a maxi
mum in 1896 of 69.GI0OOO barrels. This
was banner year. The usual crop on
the market is about 100000 barrels But
there is no way of reaching the great mass
or apples that either do not find their way
into the recorded channels of trade or are
consumed and wasted on the farms 1t
Is rHousht mat these amount to Il hundred
million bushels a year
great deal of the otherwise unmer-
chanta5le fruit goes into cheap jellies and
marmalades while there is much of il es-
Pecialy IN the south, that is cut up, sun
crled ana sent abroad, where it is often
manufactured into low-grade cider ana
shipped back But there is not enough
cider consumed in this country to make this
a very formidable amount But the i'm
mense amount of cider consumed abroad
may be inferred from the fact that one
firm alone sells to the city of Frankfort
about $4,000 gallons of sweet cider In the
making season.
The Domestic Cider Industry.
But to return to the subject of manufac-
turing cider in this country There are
only three or four big cider factories in
the country, and perhaps fifteen or twenty
places not so large where it is manufac-
tured in any quantity The other cider
on the market is the product of small farm
presses and is good, bad or Indifferent as
1t happens, no attention being paid to skill
uniformity, and often not even to cleanli-
ness in its manufacture.
The Agricultural Department when 1t
was making its collection of yeasts studied
the cider making business in all of the best
places abroad and has issued three small
bulletins on the subject, all of which are
interesting to cider-makers or prospective
makers. 1t is also ready to furnish any
of the makers with the best yeasts and
the yeasts best adapted to use with the
particular sort of apples grown in a given
locality. But, as matter of fact, the
sort of apples used matters but little so
the cider is made on correct lines and
the right ferments used.
1t is thought by the department that
there is great opening for makers OF
good cider in this country, and IL wants
to encourage the industry as much as pos
sible. 1t is to this end that the foreign
yeasts have been secured and are ready for
distribution But cider-making is one of
the things that the American public has
been rather slow to take up for some rea-
son or other, and there still few fac
tories anNW here IN the country