CYDER, a well-known liquor, serving in many parts of England as at,, common beverage, though not considered to be so wholesome as well made beer, especially to prcsons troubled with gravel, or chronic complaints of any kind. Cyder is made from apples, which should be mellow ripe, and gathered when perfect ly dry. It was formerly held as a gene ral opinion, that " the worse the fru it, the better for cyder ;" but such an absurd opinion was in time, though slowly, re futed. The best pippins make the best flavoured and the wholesomest liquor ; and such as are duly ripe will produce a proportionate increase, both of the quan tity and of the flavour. Some persons are so curious in this particular, that they select their apples individually, and keep the juice barrelled for several years, whence it acquires considerable strength and richness, equal, if not superior, to many of the inferior classes of foreign wines. When boiled, and kept in this way, it is called cyder wine.
It is to be lamented, that very large quantities ofcrude cyder are made in some districts from unripe apples, especially from windfalls. This liquor is peculiarly unwholesome, and rarely fails, if drank to excess, to induce violent colics, and spasms of long duration: The evil is in creased by the incautious practice of drawing the expressed liquor into copper or leaden vessels, from which it receives a metallic solution, that proves in most instances fatal. Even those who make cyder with the utmost care and cleanli ness from unripe apples should be par ticularly attentive to its due fermenta tion, without which, though it may not immediately turn sour, it will neither be i palatable nor wholesome. Such should be aided while fermenting by the addi tion of a very large toast, made of good wheaten bread, well leavened ; and if that should fail, the cyder should not be used, without the addition of about a quart of good spirits to two or three gal lons of the liquor. This will prevent the acetous fermentation from taking place, and reduce the bad qualities of this crude beverage.
Exclusive of the state of the fruit when gathered, much depends on the care with which it is taken down, and conveyed to the sweating room : such apples as are bruised should be rejected, or at least be made separately; for they will give a taint to the liquor ; and if numerous, will al so occasion the fermentation to be un equal : a matter of great importance ! Apples should be gathered by hand, and slipped into a basket by means of such a ladder and cloth funnel as represented in the Agricultural Magazine for Septem ber or October, 1807, whereby they are saved from injury.
The proper degree of ripeness is easi ly ascertained by those who are in the habit of gathering ' • such persons know by,the touch, and by the mellow appear ance of proper fruits, when they are fit i for the press : the shaking of the kernels. i j is extremely uncertain, as is also the co- i lour of the kernels. When a hard sort of '
apple bites crisp, and flakes without toughness, it is in proper condition. The softer fleshed apples may be tried by ' , pressing the thumb on that side which ' has not been exposed to the ,sun. If the flesh pits easily, and soon assumes a bruised appearance, the juices are suffi ciently prepared for expression. By try ing the sun side'of the apple, much de ception is often experienced.
Those who are very curious in their cyder pick off all their stalks, and wipe I each with a dry cloth ; but this cannot be done upon a large scale. However, all , filth should be avoided as much as possi ble. The fruit when first pulled should 1, be laid to air on a floor, and in a day or two should be piled. If the weather • proves frosty, a blanket should be laid night over each heap, that the whole 0 may be kept in a very gentle sweat. This dissipates much of the aqueous fluid, and disposes the apples to break freely in the mill, without which there would be double labour and far less produce. When they appear clammy, or begin to look shriVelled, they are in a state for milling. The mill and press are made up on different plans in various parts ; those who make cyder for sale, and can shew many hundred hogsheads, generally have a horse walk, and grind the apples by means of a trough, wherein they are crushed by a large stone roller, about a foot broad, and three or four feet high, which revolves on an axis fast at one end to a central-post, and at the other having a hook, to which the horse is attached. The horse goes round at an easy pace, so as not to hurry the apples out of the trough, while the stone partakes of the circular motion, and mashes the apples, which are confined by the two concen tric sides of the trough. The mills are usually made in a very negligent man ner, whereby the apples are very insuffi ciently and unequally ground ; besides; it is extremely difficult to keep the troughs clean, and to prevent the apples from jumping out when first acted upon by the stone, unless the walls or sides are incon veniently high, or that only a thin layer is bruised at a time. To remedy this, we offer a new form for the trough and stone, which it will be obvious remedies the former evil. (See fig. 3 and 4, Plate IV. Miscel.) In the same plate is shewn the mode of keeping the apples from rising before the wheel : it is simply a board, which fits flat upon the top-of the circular trough. This board is fixed by two arms to the axis on which the stone revolves, and by means of hinges at their junction will rise and fall, according as the stone may sink more or less into the trough ; -thus caus ing the board always to keep at its pro per distance in front. The board may have one or two iron pins on each side, pointing downwards for two or three inches, for the purpose of guiding and re taining it in the proper direction on the circular surface of the trough.