[31]Apple moise, or apple moce, was an old dish made of pressed apples. In cider counties apples are called moisey when they are juiceless, dry, and without flavour—dead. (See Archaic Dictionaries.)
[31]Apple moise, or apple moce, was an old dish made of pressed apples. In cider counties apples are called moisey when they are juiceless, dry, and without flavour—dead. (See Archaic Dictionaries.)
We have seen heaps of apples, consisting of many waggon-loads, in the orchard at Christmas, when wet and frost had so preyed upon them that none of their proper juices remained. This is certain to make a cider which will be of inferior quality; and though some of our friends boast of the good quality of their cider which has been made in the roughest manner, yet one cannot help thinking how much better it might have been with the fruit carefully collected, and kept until it could be ground. Still, with all our care in this matter, disappointment is sometimes the result; for it is with cider as with wine, the season will have a great deal to do with it, though with both, the manner of making and storing will be all-important matters, to which we shall advert in the next chapter.
We much object to the gathering of fruit for any purpose in the wet. Were it not for the expense, it would be better to take advantage of dry weather, and to collect even cider-fruit by hand-picking before it has become dead ripe, and so let the ripening processbe completed in some dry storing-place. In our own experience of cider-making, the two or three casks made for home consumption from carefully picked and well-kept fruit are usually of the best quality, and so made we believe cider to be a most agreeable and very wholesome beverage,—to paraphrase Isaac Walton, only fit for farmers or very honest men. As long, however, as rough people are about who never know when they have had enough, the rougher cider made by a ruder process is quite good enough.
It must be obvious to all that if a man can drink as much as four gallons of good cider in a day’s mowing, he would be better off with a less quantity of an inferior sort, supplemented with tea or coffee.
In making cider or perry it is well not to begin unless the weather be moderately cool, as in hot weather the changes in the fluid become too rapid, and it consequently does not keep well.
The first process will be to grind the fruit into as perfect a state of pulp as possible. This will be effected when the kernels are decidedly crushed. Such a state of pulp usually ensures the best results, not only from the fact that the whole juice of the fruit is not only set free, but it is all exposed to the action of the air, by which both the colour and quality are greatly improved; and, besides this, every good quality is decidedly increased by having the principles and flavour of the kernels mixed with the other juices.
The method by which this is best effected is by grinding in the usual circular stone horse-mill. This is confessedly a slow process, but notwithstanding the newer methods, to be presently described, we still prefer it to all others, and that from the great completeness with which the grinding is effected.
Of late years cider-mills have been brought out which essentially consist of a combination of gribbling teeth, by which the fruit is first torn to pieces, andtwo cylindrical rollers, between which it is afterwards crushed with greater or less completeness.
In some cases the rollers are of iron, in others of hard stone: the latter is preferable, as contact with iron, even where but slight, causes the drink to assume a degree of blackness, especially on exposure.
Portable mills of this kind are now very general, but we so fully agree with the remarks of Mr. Cadle, that we here quote his description of some portable cider-mills, with his comments upon their action.
About twenty-six years ago, Mr. Coleman, of Chaxhill, Westbury-on-Severn, commenced making an improved cider-mill and press, which could act either as a fixture or a portable mill. It was found that the cider thus made fined better, and the process was also more expeditious. These advantages, together with the cost of keeping the old kind of mills in repair, which landlords were unwilling to undertake, led to their being superseded, as they wore out, by Coleman’s, or a similar mill.Coleman’s mill consists of two pairs of rollers fixed in a strong wooden frame; it is fed from a hopper, the apples passing through the first pair of rollers, which are made of hard wood, with iron teeth, so as to break the apples, which fall next between a pair of stone rollers set close enough to break the kernels, and from these the pulp drops into a trough placed beneath to receive it.Mr. Latchem, of Hereford, has also paid considerable attention to the construction of these mills, and has taken out a patent for doing away with the iron in the feed-rollers, and substituting steel teeth fitted into one roller, and working through other steel teeth on a fixed plate, partly on the same principle as a curd-mill. The fruit, after passing this “chewer,” is ground between a pair of stone rollers, as before described.Until the portable apple-mills became general, we had a mill to almost every farm, and even to many of the cottages; but in Devonshire one mill or pound-house serves for a number of makers, and sometimes for a parish, each person paying so much per hogshead for the making.[347]Most of the travelling portable machines in Herefordshire have two presses with each mill, and are worked by two horses, making 1,000 to 1,500 gallons in a day; sometimes they are worked by a small portable steam-engine. They are very expeditious, and do very well for a second-class cider, but if you would have the best, they are very objectionable, because the different sorts of fruit very rarely get ripe at once in sufficient quantities to enable you to make much at a time. Much cider is therefore spoiled, the fruit being ground when too green, by those who are impatient to finish the process. I think that each farm or holding should have a mill of its own, even if it be only a small hand-mill.There are several other rude plans of grinding, such as nut-mills, graters, scratchers, &c., but they are so objectionable that they hardly deserve notice.All metallic substances should be kept from contact with the pulp, as chemical combinations immediately take place on contact; for instance, if you take a clean knife and cut an apple through, the knife quickly becomes black, as well as the apple. For this reason I think the iron teeth and cast-iron in the rollers are objectionable; as also the steel ones, although perhaps not to the same extent. I should recommend that this iron be removed, and fluted rollers of larger diameter be made of some hard wood, such as yew-tree, or American iron-wood. No doubt more power would then be required to work the mills, but this would be of little consequence if the produce was first-class cider.When this new mode of grinding was first tried, there was great complaint amongst the labourers that the cider did not agree with them, and this was generally attributed to the iron; but in my opinion, the green state of the fruit when ground made the juice harsh, and caused irritation in the system.—Journal R. A. S., vol.XXV.page 1.
About twenty-six years ago, Mr. Coleman, of Chaxhill, Westbury-on-Severn, commenced making an improved cider-mill and press, which could act either as a fixture or a portable mill. It was found that the cider thus made fined better, and the process was also more expeditious. These advantages, together with the cost of keeping the old kind of mills in repair, which landlords were unwilling to undertake, led to their being superseded, as they wore out, by Coleman’s, or a similar mill.
Coleman’s mill consists of two pairs of rollers fixed in a strong wooden frame; it is fed from a hopper, the apples passing through the first pair of rollers, which are made of hard wood, with iron teeth, so as to break the apples, which fall next between a pair of stone rollers set close enough to break the kernels, and from these the pulp drops into a trough placed beneath to receive it.
Mr. Latchem, of Hereford, has also paid considerable attention to the construction of these mills, and has taken out a patent for doing away with the iron in the feed-rollers, and substituting steel teeth fitted into one roller, and working through other steel teeth on a fixed plate, partly on the same principle as a curd-mill. The fruit, after passing this “chewer,” is ground between a pair of stone rollers, as before described.
Until the portable apple-mills became general, we had a mill to almost every farm, and even to many of the cottages; but in Devonshire one mill or pound-house serves for a number of makers, and sometimes for a parish, each person paying so much per hogshead for the making.
[347]Most of the travelling portable machines in Herefordshire have two presses with each mill, and are worked by two horses, making 1,000 to 1,500 gallons in a day; sometimes they are worked by a small portable steam-engine. They are very expeditious, and do very well for a second-class cider, but if you would have the best, they are very objectionable, because the different sorts of fruit very rarely get ripe at once in sufficient quantities to enable you to make much at a time. Much cider is therefore spoiled, the fruit being ground when too green, by those who are impatient to finish the process. I think that each farm or holding should have a mill of its own, even if it be only a small hand-mill.
There are several other rude plans of grinding, such as nut-mills, graters, scratchers, &c., but they are so objectionable that they hardly deserve notice.
All metallic substances should be kept from contact with the pulp, as chemical combinations immediately take place on contact; for instance, if you take a clean knife and cut an apple through, the knife quickly becomes black, as well as the apple. For this reason I think the iron teeth and cast-iron in the rollers are objectionable; as also the steel ones, although perhaps not to the same extent. I should recommend that this iron be removed, and fluted rollers of larger diameter be made of some hard wood, such as yew-tree, or American iron-wood. No doubt more power would then be required to work the mills, but this would be of little consequence if the produce was first-class cider.
When this new mode of grinding was first tried, there was great complaint amongst the labourers that the cider did not agree with them, and this was generally attributed to the iron; but in my opinion, the green state of the fruit when ground made the juice harsh, and caused irritation in the system.—Journal R. A. S., vol.XXV.page 1.
The next point for consideration is the pressing out of the juice. This has been done with screw-presses of various kinds, either wood or iron, with single or double screws.
Hydraulic presses are now coming into fashion, and one advantage which they possess is, that of easilyand expeditiously gettingallthe juice from the pulp.
In Dorsetshire the ground pulp or “pummy” is usually put upon a flat stage between layers of straw, which are deftly turned up at the edges so as to keep the “cheese” together. Upon the top of the cheese is placed another flat board, which is acted upon by the press.
In Worcestershire and Hereford the pulp is pressed in hair cloths, which plan is much more perfect than with straw.
In pressing it is well to observe that the pulp be ground on one day and pressed the next, as not only colour but general richness in quality results from exposure. The dark colour which an apple assumes on being cut is due to this cause, not as supposed to the steel knife, for the change mentioned is equally certain with a silver one. In the now almost exploded plan of scooping apples, the pulp of even sour apples becomes sweet by the process.
As the juice is exuded from the press it falls into a trough beneath, which is divided into two parts by a grating with small holes, by which the particles of pulp are separated, and from this the clearer fluid is conveyed to the cask.
As regards straining, we have seen some of the finer sorts of perry made by a more complete straining than the above; in fact, a rough kind of filtering in flannel bags. This would take too long a time for general purposes. It is, however, a good way of making drink for bottling.
The after-management of cider and perry is a subject upon which much has been both said and written.We, however, join in the country opinion, that “if it be made well the less it is messed with the better.”
We prefer putting cider in large casks in a cool cellar—say of from one to two hundred gallons or more,—to each of which should be two tap-holes, one in the middle and one towards the bottom; the first tapping from the middle hole insures a clear fluid without disturbing the lower part, which thus goes on “settling down.”
If cider from good fruit be made well, it will have an agreeable sub-acid flavour, derived from the malic acid, which is the principle which gives the refreshing juice of most fruits.
Fermentation is necessary to make good cider, as by it the sugar of the fruit is converted into alcohol or spirit; and if, when this process is complete, the fermentation ceases, we shall have a refreshing, exciting, and generous fluid; if, however, it passes from vinous to acetous fermentation, we get acetic acid, and the product is sour.
Cider made from good and well-ordered fruit in temperate weather, and put in casks in a cool cellar, will be likely to ferment equably, and to stop at the right time; if so, the product will be of the best; if, however, these conditions have not been complied with, the cider will be more or less harsh or “hard,” and no means will avail to improve it. Sulphur may be burnt in the casks to check fermentation; but we would after all prefer acetic to sulphurous acid. Chalk and lime will decompose the acid, but to little purpose. The London method of adding sugar or sugar-candy and water to sour cider—and to themall mature cider is sour—is in itself innocent enough.
There is, then, this consolation: if the cider be harsh, farm labourers will drink it; and as they will not, as a rule, drink half so much of the inferior as of the best, they will after all be the gainers.
If we canvass the opinions of the mass of the people in cider-producing and non-cider-producing counties as to the relative merits of cider and beer, we shall find opinions wider apart than even the counties themselves. The “Beer-drinking Briton” cannot at all understand how the lover of cider can skin his throat with such sour stuff as cider, whilst the agricultural labourer in cider districts infinitely prefers harsh cider to the finest ale. We recollect, in one of our geological trips in to Herefordshire, in company with an esteemed clerical friend, that a quarryman, working in Wenlock limestone, tendered us a few shells, on which we offered him sixpence, remarking, “Here’s a quart of beer for your trouble.” This same man then gave our companion a couple of trilobites, who presented him with a coin of like value to our own, but with the remark, “Here, my friend, is agallon of ciderfor you.” The effect upon the man’s whole being will never be forgotten. He was the slave of the Church for the whole day, and ever thereafter for all we can tell.
In cider districts the farmer, his family and friends, all relish cider, and with all, its proper use seems to agree in a most remarkable manner; but it would be fun to a country cousin who could cease to look at the matter in a serious light to see what a facehis London relative would make at a draught of his “own peculiar;” and yet he of the town professes to like sweet cider; but as his knowledge of sweet cider is obtained from the summer drink of the London houses, called “Prime Devonshire Cider,” the following recipe will explain it:—
The following will be found in Cooley’s “Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts:”—
Cider, Made.—An article under this name is made in Devonshire for the supply of the London market, it having been found that the ordinary cider will not stand a voyage to the metropolis without some preparation. The finest quality of made cider is only ordinary cider racked into a clean cask, and well sulphured; but the mass of that which is sent to London is mixed with water, treacle, and alum, and then fined down, after which it is racked into well-matched casks (i.e., a burnt-sulphur match). The larger portion of the cider sold in London, professing to be Devonshire cider, would be rejected even by the farmers’ servants in that county.
Cider, Made.—An article under this name is made in Devonshire for the supply of the London market, it having been found that the ordinary cider will not stand a voyage to the metropolis without some preparation. The finest quality of made cider is only ordinary cider racked into a clean cask, and well sulphured; but the mass of that which is sent to London is mixed with water, treacle, and alum, and then fined down, after which it is racked into well-matched casks (i.e., a burnt-sulphur match). The larger portion of the cider sold in London, professing to be Devonshire cider, would be rejected even by the farmers’ servants in that county.
No wonder, then, that cider is not a favourite beverage when it is only used as a summer drink in some sophisticated form; but, when understood and obtained at all good, we believe it to be wholesome and palatable, and, indeed, we know it to be preferred before even the best ales in cider districts.
There is a common error amongst town-folk who prefer the above mixture that cider is not intoxicating, that it has no strength in it; but we regret to say that it is not only intoxicating, but we believe more exciting than beer: it is true that its effects pass off sooner.
Drunkenness with cider would seem to be so far different than in the case of beer, in that while the latter makes its victim heavy and stupid, the former incites to motion, and leads to quarrelling, fighting, and foolhardiness.
Hence, then, cider so exhilarates the farm labourer that he will do any amount of work if he is constantly plied with it, and all the while that it is but stimulating him, he fancies he is getting strength and vigour from it; but, alas! he is only thus drawing upon his capital; exhaustion follows a hard day’s work got over amid hard drinking, which requires the following day to be spent on the same high-pressure system, or else little will be done. Hence one of our own labourers, during barley mowing at so muchper acre, was fain to confess that he “wanted a pint of cider at four o’clock in the morning worse nor any other time of day.”
It happens, then, that as harvest work is wanted to be done expeditiously, it is let out by the piece, by which the labourer gets more money and more cider. But consider, my masters, that, when not under these stimulants, you can only expect from the workman a languid day’s work when the excitement is over; and too often, indeed, the poor man gets a long illness as the result of his forced, that is, stimulated labour, and, if not, such a system of drawing upon his capital—strength—is certain to end in premature old age.
Seeing, however, that the labourer has got to believe that drink keeps up his strength, it too often follows that he concludes that the more he gets of it the better; and hence, as a rule, there is no satisfyinghim upon this head, and the result is, that the labourer too often keeps himself in that state of thirst and muzziness during his work that almost compels him to seek the public-house when work is done. Here quarrels ensue, and it is a wonder that manslaughter is not more frequently the result. Expelled from the scene of his debauch, he finds his way home, unless, as is not unfrequent, he is “found drowned” in the river by which he may have to pass.
This is no fancied sketch, as it is derived from the sad experience of the author and the result of events in his own parish. On one melancholy occasion it was indeed sad to hear the Coroner, among other remarks, observe that full four-fifths of the inquests in a cider county were the result of drink.
Is there not, then, a heavy responsibility resting upon the farmer in especial connection with cider, while his men are partially paid in this fluid? It is different in the beer-drinking counties, as beer costs more money, and is never allowed in such quantity as cider. Put it down as true that the farmerat timesgets more work out of his men by plying them with cider, yet we feel sure he thereby hastens the time when such men can no longer work, and they have then to be chargeable to the parish, if in the mean time nothing worse should happen.
Mechanics are not paid in drink; they purchase what they require out of regular wages, and thus they have the option, which many of them take advantage of, of leaving off strong drink altogether; and though they too are sometimes hard pressed toget a piece of work done, yet, by over-hours, for which they are rightly paid, not, as in the country, wholly by cider, but in money, the business is managed, and the workman can afford extra meat and bread, by which his worn muscles are truly renovated, and not merely stimulated to frantic action as by drink. The great rise in the price of meat, even before cattle disease became rife, is due to the cause that so much more meat has, within the last five years, been eaten by the British workman. In this advance, however, the farm labourer has had no part; he rarely gets meat twice a week, while all this time his wages have advanced so much as 25per cent., which rise, in nine cases out of ten, is only looked upon as a boon, inasmuch as it enables the recipient to “enjoy himself,” which simply means he has more to spend at the public-house.
We conclude, as the result of experience, that each sack of corn that finds its way to market from a cider county costs 1s. (or 3d. per bushel) in drink, which, though it is produced on the farm, might yet have been sold to produce that amount.
Would it then not be better to sell such farm produce, and, by giving extra money instead of drink to the labourers, and so, by allowing him the option of taking less drink but more meat, gradually to withdraw him from the temptations to get drunk, which beset him under the present system? For, while we feel quite sure that the morbid craving for the public-house has commenced with drinking on the farm, we may be certain that if by any means we can check this system, it will ultimately be a great gain to both master and man.
Where are farm labourers best off? We say in the non-cider counties. In these he has learnt the use of skim-milk and the value of meat. In cider counties the farm labourer despises skim-milk as “poor weak tack, only fit for pigs.” He cannot get meat, as he takes part of his wage in a stimulant which excites him to spend some of his money in falsely “keeping up his strength.”
Now what are the results? We unhesitatingly assert, muscle, longevity, more robust, honest, well-to-do families, healthier bodies and minds, beyond the cider limits.
If, then, these things be so, some change in the use and economy of this wholesome drink is an object worthy of the deepest and most earnest consideration. One man alone can do no good. Beneficial results can only follow upon calm discussion and combined action by the masters, upon well ascertained facts. We would not stint the labourer of that which is to do him good; and if we find that he is really willing and capable of taking the whole responsibility connected with his drinking requirements upon his own shoulders, we cannot help thinking that it would be for the good of all parties to pay increased wages in full rather than any portion in kind, and more especially of the kind we have thus animadverted upon.
In bringing these Papers to a conclusion, we would, among other matters, make a few remarks upon the title under which they have been issued, namely,Science and Practice of Farm Cultivation.
Now it will be seen that our object has not been to enter into the minutiæ of practical farming, but rather to point out some of the more important scientific principles by which much of practice is regulated. Hence, then, we would beg the reader to amend the title as follows:—“ScienceofPracticeinFarm Cultivation.” This will more fully explain the aim and object we have had in view in the series of Papers now concluded.
It is now time to tender our best acknowledgements for the aid we have received in the many drawings with which this small work has been so liberally illustrated. We owe especial thanks to Mr. Hardwicke for several fine plates of interesting agricultural as well as botanical specimens; to the Royal Agricultural Society of England for the loan of the woodcuts of roots; and to our friend Mr. Wheeler, of Gloucester, for the use of the woodcut illustrations of grasses; and as both the drawings of roots and grasses were made by us direct on the wood, rough though they may be, we yet hopethey may be deemed more faithful than any second-hand copy.
Our labours being ended, it only remains to add that we hope our little work may have the effect of inducing some of our agricultural friends to look into the principles connected with the various operations which they daily superintend, as by so doing agriculture will be really elevated to a science; whereas, by merely copying what has been done before, we shall only be empirics, practising rational empiricism it is true, but still coming short of that light and knowledge which is the life,—the scienceof our profession.
J. B.
Bradford Abbas, Dorset,Sept. 25, 1865.
COX AND WYMAN, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, W.C.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTESThe text of the original work has been maintained, including all inconsistencies in spelling, lay-out, hyphenation, capitalisation etc. These have not been changed, except as indicated below. Notable inconsistencies include Hagloe/Haglo, bird's foot/ birdsfoot/birds-foot, codlin/codling, Cotteswold-hills/Cotteswold Hills, wire-worm/wireworm, sainfoin/saintfoin, per cent./percent./per-cent./pr-cent. Achillæa millefolia (yarrow) and Achillea millefolium (milfoil) are both used for the same plant.Multi-page tables have been re-combined into single tables.Footnotes have been moved to directly under the text to which they refer. Illustrations and tables have been moved to before or after the paragraph in which they were printed in the original work.The differences in wording between the table of contents and the text have been left as in the original work because the meaning is clear.Changes made to the text:PageOriginalChanged toviepipiticalepiphytical(page number) 218217vii(page number) 266265chesnutchestnut(page number) 3203199be utterly failedhe utterly failed10that be has triedthat he has tried24Skirvings swedeSkirving’s swede41(see Chap. VII.)(see Chap. VI.)112fænum-græcumfœnum-græcum127Bird’s-food TrefoilBird’s-foot Trefoil136single-seededsingle-seeded146indenticalidentical151in August 31on August 31276geologialgeological318first letter missing from “gives the former tree”, “g” insertedFor improved readability, the reference letters and numbers in the drawings on pages 160, 264 and 280 have been enlarged.Some obvious punctuation errors have been corrected silently.Braces have been added to or removed from some tables for the sake of consistency.Decimal points have been standardised to mid-dots.