Year: 1869

gions OF the earth, that Of the apple
may be said TO have served like pur.
pose among the Anglo Saxons, since
they found in the "grecn holts of Eng
land" the appie-trecs planted by the
Romans that followed Caesar 10 the land
Of the Druids. To this day 10 Glouces.
tersiire aud Hereford and Devon cider
is quaifed by the masses with the same
susto with which, as we are told, the
soldiery Of the last Saxon king drank
a mocking health to William, the Nor
man, as he came TO their shores, In
this country from the earliest period Of
its settlement, the making of cider has
formed one OF the ordinary labors OF
the autumn, aud its use as a beverage
has been more common, and probably
more beneficial, than that OF tdoctored"
wines, and it is somewhat surprising
that the manufacture of superior
quality has not commended itself more
generally to the agricultural public, and
this the more SO inasmuch as the oper-
ations involved are simple in their ma
ture and require the exercise Of little
more than average care aud skill.


To produce an article Of superior
quality it is essential that the apples
should be Of some sweet variety, in
order that the desired proportion of
alcohol, however small such portion,
may be evolved by fermentation, and
it is also desirable that the apples should
be Of some kind that haze distinctive
favor Of their own, which may be COM
munieatcd to the product. The apples
should be suffered TO lie after being
gathered from the trees until they have
slightly softenod from the ripeness, but
not until decay has at all commenced,
the object of this being to permit the
transformation to the greatest exteut Of
the starch OF the fruit into glucose.
The first step in the manufacture is, Of
course, the conversion Of the apples into
pomace, from which the juice may be
expressed by screw or other press OF
any suitable kind. Until within com.
paratively recent period the crushing
Of the fruit was performed in England
ina rude mill composed Of a stone trough
within which a heavy stone muller was
turned around by horse power. This
was, doubtless, very efficient as well as
very slow in its operation, but its place
was filled in this country three-fourths
Of a century ago by wooden mill hay-
ing two vertical cylinders with inter
working cogs and cavities, and between
which the truit was pretty thoroughly
mashed. Some years since it was
claimed by many, with no apparent
reason, that the yield Of cider was in
creased by slicing instead Of crushing
the apples, aud at the present time the
system most in favor appears 10 be that
OF scrapipg them to pulp by means Of
rotating cylinders or disks armed with
a large number of grating teeth. After
the conversion of apples into pulp il is
better to let them lie over night, to still
further facilitate the development Of
sachariDe properties, after which the
cider is expressed thcrefrom as Just
hercinbefore indicated. In the press
ing process the plan Of building the
pulp into ''checse" with clean rye
straw may be considered as yielding the
best results, as far as the quantity and
quality Of the cider is concerned, al
though much labor is saved by the use
Of press, the pulp receptacle of which,
has its sides and bottom perforated to
permit the escape OF the juice there
from, thereby doing away with the use
Of the straw.


The sweet cider thus obtained needs
simply to be placed in clean barrels
with tho bungs removed to permit tho
access OF air, whereupoa fcrmentation
Is induced, and proceeds with greater
or less rapidity, according to the tenn
pcrature; tho saccharinc matter being
converted into alchohol aud carbonic
acid gas, the latter Of which passes into
the air, while the former renIaips in the
cider. Ii the apples were very sweet
this fermentation should not be allowed
to proceed to any extreme degree, but,
after it has caused tho elimination OF
the impurities N the form. Of scum,
should be rackcd of aud placed in tight.
ly corked bottles ouIy partially filed
The fermentation by the contact of the
air within the bottles will be continued,
ana the carbonic aeid evolved thereby
being confined under pressure will be
u. A - II. -. -


absorbed by- the cider, so that when tho
latter Is poured from the bottle it will
by me evolution Of the gas be of a
sparkling nature jast as so-calied soda