The best and most commodious grind ing mill for ordinary use consists of an ,oblong funnel, capable of containing about two bushels ; this directs the apples down to to,vo cylinders, placed horizontally at about half an inch or less asunder. Each cylinder is furnished with many rows of strong teeth ; between each two there is a mortice, so that as one is set in motion by a crank, or winch handle, it locks mu tually in with the other, and causes it to revolve with a counter motion, thereby catching in the apples, and forcing them through between the rollers, into a re ceiver placed below. The cylinders may be about a foot long, and perhiPs four or five inches in diameter. Many use iron teeth ; but those made of lig-num vitm are preferable. They should be about an inch square, and project nearly as much, their ends being cut to a wedge form. These teeth ought to be in regular bands, with intermediate mortices for the recep tion of those locking in from the other cylinder ; the bands or rows to be about two or three inches asunder, and the teeth about two inches apart. Fig. 5, in the same plate, will give some idea of this machine, which will be found also in the Agricultural Magazine, for February or March, 1808.
The pulp is put into cloth receivers, made of horse hair ; and being piled in as many layers as the machine will contain, is compressed by the means of large le vers turning a wooden pillar screw, the same as in the paper manufactories, &c. so that all the juice is forced out, and the pulp is rendered dry and thin. The li quor thus obtained is called stum, and the residuum is called murk. The latter is frequently broken up, and being infus ed with boiling water, is again pressed, for the purpose of giving a small liquor, called cyderkin, purre, or perkin. Some add hops thereto, which makes it keep Very well. If too much water be not put, say about one-third the quantity of ex pressed juice, the cyderkin will prove good. It ought to remain 48 hours be fore repressed. The best way is to grind the murk a second time, whereby much more liquor will be obtained. The cyder should be put into very clean sweet casks, which should not be filled, but a small space left for the working. The duration of the ferment is uncertain, be ing from a week to a month, or more, ac cording to the state of the atmosphere. If the fruit be in a proper state, and that no frost should intervene, it will general ly be regular ; but in the latter case, ar tificial warmth, not exceeding 60 degrees, may be used, and a piece of well-toasted bread be put in. When the fermentation is declining, draw off the cyder from its lees, by means of a cock at a few inches from the bottom of the cask, and put it into another vessel, which mast, after the first effervescence, be well filled, and be bunged up very close.
It is proper to state in this place, that very large quantities of good shim are annually spoilt, by being placed either in too hot situations, where the fermentation proceeds unduly to the second, or ace tous degree ; or in too cold or damp a cellar, &c. as where the fermentation is tardy and imperfect. Cyder left to work upon coarge foul lees will ferment with great vigour, but is apt to expand itself, and to leave either an insipid subacid li quor, or to burst the casks, if closed too soon. Spirits are the best preventative
to both : on the continent, and in Ame rica, we understand that those few who make good cyder (which is extremely scarce in those parts, though apples of the finest qualities abound) invariably doctor the stum when the fermentation is either defective or excessive : having abundance of spirits, they can easily pre vent that mischief; which in this country could not be obviated at any moderate expense. When cyder fails, and becomes acid, the acetous change should be en couraged : it makes excellent vinegar, worth at least two shillings and six-pence the gallon ; whereas in cyder countries the same quantity used as beverage would not produce more than two shillings ; from which deduct the duty, which is about five penceper gallon. When cy der has been well made, and is put into capacious vessels, it will keep sound for many years ; becoming rich and mellow : in small quantities it is more apt to be come flat. When bottled for many years, it is common to find it taste very strongly of the cork; and if the straw in which it is packed be not thoroughly dry, the li quor will acquire a very unpleasant mus ty flavour. All preparations used for fining cyder are highly injurious to its quality ; racking from the lees into fresh vessels, after the fermentation has mode rated, is the only proper mode of remov ing the impurities.
We are concerned to state, that those kinds of apples which were so long famous for yielding a fine stum are much on the decline ; and that no means have hitherto been discovered of preventing the un timely decay of the trees. it is to be hop ed, that we shall either receive some fresh grafts from the continent, or that some ingenious person will devise the means of preserving what we have from the canker, which destroys our best or chards after a few years growth.
Explanation of Plate IV. Miscel. fig. 3. A. shews the vertical section of the stone roller, with its axis C C. The suggested improvement consists in rounding its edg es, and in suiting the bottom of the trough B, B, 13 to that shape.
Fig. 4, shews the side of the wheel, half way buried in the trough, of which is the upper line, and K K the bottom.
1' lie arm E moves freely on the axis F, and is fastened at C, by a hinge, to the board H H ; which is kept in its place on the surface of the trough, by the pins I I ; of which there are two on each side. Thus the wheel (or stone) D revolves, at whatever height the board will main tain its position. If too light, it may be loaded.
Fig. 5, shews the two cylinders, with their manner of locking into each other; one crank turning both.; the teeth o, o, fitting into the mortices p, p. The wheels M and N, having by this means contrary motions, catch the apples between their approaching surfaces, and by aid of the teeth crush them into small pieces ; which are reduced to a perfect pulp as they pass between the rollers into the vessel below. X is the handle of the winch.
This machine, fig. 5, is in common use in the west of England, and is found to answer well.