fermentation is brisk, but at last gradually ceases. The liquor now appears tolerably clear to the eye, and has a piquant vinous sharpness upon the tongue. If in this state the least hissing noise be heard in the fermenting liquor, the room is too warm, and atmospheric air must be let in at the doors and at the windows. Now, continues Crocker, is the critical moment which the ciderist must not lose sight of; for, if he would have a strong, generous, and pleasant liquor, all further sensible fermentation must be stopped. This is best done by racking off the pure part into open vessels, which must be placed in a more cool situation for a day or two; after which it may again be barrelled, and placed in some moderately-cool situation for the winter. The Herefordshire cider-farmers, after the cider has perfected its vinous fermentation, place their casks of cider in open sheds throughout the winter; and, when the spring advances, give the last racking, and then cellar it. In racking, it is advisable that the stream from the racking-cock be small, and that the receiving-tub be but a small depth below the cock, lest, by exciting a violent motion of the parts of the liquor, another fermentation be brought up. The feculence of the cider may be strained through a filtering-bag, and placed among the second-rate ciders; but by no means should it be returned to the prime cider. In this situation the cider will, in course of time, by a sort of insensible fermentation, not only drop the remainder of its gross lees, but will become transparent, highly vinous, and fragrant. 3817. According to Knight, after the fermentation has ceased, and the liquor is become clear and bright, it should instantly be drawn off, and not suffered on any account again to mingle with its lees; for these possess much the same properties as yeast, and would inevitably bring on a second fermentation. The best criterion to judge of the proper moment to rack off will be, the brightness of the liquor; and this is always attended with external marks, which serve as guides to the cider-maker. The discharge of fixed air, which always attends the progress of fermentation, has entirely ceased; and a thick crust, formed of fragments of the reduced pulp, raised by the buoyant air it contains, is collected on the surface. The clear liquor being drawn off into another cask, the lees are put into small bags, similar to those used for jellies: through these whatever liquor the lees contain gradually filtrates, becoming perfectly bright; and it is then returned to that in the cask, in which it has the effect, in some measure, of preventing a second fermentation. It appears to have undergone a considerable change in the process of filtration. Its color is remarkably deep, its taste harsh and flat, and it has a strong tendency to become acetous; probably by having given out fixed and absorbed vital air. Should it become acetous, which it will frequently do in forty-eight hours, it must not on any account be put into the cask. If the cider, after being racked off, remains bright and quiet, nothing more is to be done to it till the succeeding spring; but if a scum collects on the surface, it must immediately be racked off into another cask; as this would produce bad effects if suffered to sink. If a disposition to ferment with violence again appears, it will be necessary to rack off from one cask to another, as often as a hissing noise is heard. The strength of cider is much reduced by being frequently racked off'; but this arises only from a larger portion of sugar remaining unchanged, which adds to the sweetness at the expense of the other quality. The juice of those fruits, which produce very strong ciders, often remains muddy during the whole winter, and much attention must frequently be paid to prevent an excess of fermentation. 3818. The casks, into which the liquor is put whenever racked off, should always have been thoroughly scalded, and dried again; and each should want several gallons of being full, to expose a larger surface to the air. come on, : 3819. The above precautions neglected by the ciderist, the inevitable consequence will be this: Another fermentation will quickly succeed, and convert the fine vinous liquor he was possessed of into a sort of vinegar; and all the art he is master of will never restore it to its former richness and purity. When the acetous fermentation has been suffered to the following attempts may be made to prevent the ill effects of it from running to their full extent. A bottle of French brandy; half a gallon of spirit extracted from the lees of cider; or a pail-full of old cider, poured into the hogshead soon after the acetous fermentation is begun but no wonder if all these should fail, if the cider be still continued in a close warm cellar. To give effect to either, it is necessary that the liquor be as much exposed to a cooler air as conveniently may be, and that for a considerable length of time. By such means it is possible fermentation may, in a great measure, be repressed: and if a cask of prime cider cannot from thence be obtained, a cask of tolerable second-rate kind may. These remedies are innocent: but if the farmer or cider-merchant attempt to cover the accident, occasioned by negligence or inattention, by applying any preparation of lead, let him reflect, that he is about to commit an absolute and unqualified murder on those whose lot it may be to drink his poisonous draught. 3820. Stumming, which signifies the fuming a cask with burning sulphur, may sometimes be advantageous. It is thus performed: Take a stripe of canvas cloth, about twelve inches long and two broad; let it be dipped into melted brimstone: when this match is dry, let it be lighted, and suspended from the bung of a cask (in which there are a few gallons of cider) until it be burnt out. The cask must remain stopped for an hour or more, and be then rolled to and fro, to incorporate the fumes of the match with the cider; after which it may be filled. If the stumming be designed only to suppress some slight, improper fermentation, the brimstone-match is sufficient; but if it be required to give any additional flavor to the cider, some powdered ginger, cloves, or cinnamon, &c, may be strewed on the match when it is made. The burning these ingredients with the sulphur will convey somewhat of their fragrance to the whole cask of cider; but to do it to the best advantage, it must be performed as soon as the vinous fermentation is fully perfected. 3821. Cider is generally in the best state to be put into the bottle at two years old, where it will soon become brisk and sparkling; and if it possesses much richness, it will remain with scarcely any sensible change during twenty or thirty years, or as long as the cork duly performs its office. 3822. In making cider for the common use of the farm-house, few of the foregoing rules are attended to. The flavor of the liquor is here a secondary consideration with the farmer, whose first object must be to obtain a large quantity at a small expense. The apples are usually ground as soon as they become moderately ripe; and the juice is either racked off at once as soon as it becomes bright, or more frequently conveyed from the press immediately to the cellar. A violent fermentation soon commences, and continues until nearly the whole of the saccharine part is decomposed. The casks are filled up and stopped early in the succeeding spring, and no further attention is either paid or required. The liquor thus prepared may be kept from two to five or six years in the cask, according to its strength. It is generally harsh and rough, but rarely acetous; and in this state, it is usually supposed to be preferred by the farmers and peasantry. When it has become extremely thin and harsh by excess of fermentation, the addition of a small quantity of bruised wheat, or slices of toasted bread, or any other farinaceous substance, will much diminish its disposition to become sour. 3823. The produce of cider or perry by the acre, can only be guessed at, by first ascertaining the number of trees. From an orchard of trees, in full bearing, half a hogshead of cider may, in seasons ordinarily favorable, be expected from the fruit of each tree. As the number of trees on the acre varies from ten to forty, the quantity of cider must vary in the same proportion, that is, from five to twenty hogsheads. Pear-trees, in equally good bearing, yield fully one-third more liquor: therefore, although the liquor extracted from pears sells at a lower price than that produced from apples, yet the value by the acre, when the number of trees is the same, is nearly on a par. SECT. VI. Of the Machinery and Utensils necessary for Cider making. 3824. The machinery of the common ciderist, includes the mill-house, mill, press, cloth, vat, and cask, with their appurtenances. 3825. Marshal, in The Rural Economy of Gloucestershire, remarks, that a mill-house, on an orchard-farm, is as necessary as a barn. It is generally one end of an out-building; or, perhaps, an open shed, under which straw or small implements are occasionally laid up. The smallest dimensions, to render it any way convenient, are twenty-four feet by twenty; a floor thrown over it, at seven feet high; a door in the middle of the front, and a window opposite; with the mill on one side, the press on the other side of the window; as much room being left in front, towards the door, for fruit and utensils, as the nature of the mill and the press will allow. The utensils belonging to a mill-house are few: the fruit is brought in carts or baskets, and the liquor carried out in pails. 3826. Of the common cider mill (fig. 462.), there are several varieties formed on the principles of the 463 The bottom of the chace is somewhat wider than the runner, that this may run freely. The inner side rises perpendicularly, but the outer side spreads, so as to make the top of the trough some six or eight inches wider than the bottom to give freedom to the runner, and room to scatter in the fruit, stir it up while grinding, and take out the ground matter. The depth, nine or ten inches. The outer rim of the trough is three or four inches wide; and the diameter of the inner circle, which the trough circumscribes, from four and a half to five feet, according to the size of the mill. This is sometimes raised by a table of thick plank fixed upon the stone, with a curb of wood, lessening to an angle, fixed upon the circumference of the trough, making the whole depth of the trough about equal to its width at the bottom. This lessens the quantity of the stone; and the plank upon the centre answers other purposes. The entire bed of a middle-sized mill is about nine feet, some ten, and some few twelve, feet in diameter; the whole being composed of two, three, or four stones, cramped together as one; and worked, or at least finished, after they are cramped together. The best stones are raised in the forest of Dean: they are mostly a darkreddish gritstone (non-calcareous), working with sufficient freedom, yet sufficiently hard for this intention. The bed of the mill is formed, and the trough partly hollowed, at the quarry; leaving a few inches at the edge of each stone uncut out, as a bond to prevent its breaking in carriage. Much depends on the quality of the stone. It ought not to be calcareous, in whole or in part, as the acid of the liquor would corrode it. Some of the Herefordshire stones have calcareous pebbles in them, which being of course dissolved, leave holes in the stone. Nor should it be such as will communicate a disagreeable tinge to the liquor. A cleangrained grindstone grit is the fittest for this purpose. 3827. The runner, as has been seen (fig.463.), is moved by means of an axle passing through the centre, with a long arm, reaching without the bed of the mill, 'for a horse to draw by; and with a short one passing to an upright swivel, turning upon a pivot, in the centre of the stone, and steadied at the top, by entering a bearing of the floor above. An iron bolt, with a large head, passes through an eye in the lower part of the swivel, into the end of the inner arm of the axis. Thus the requisite double motion is obtained, and the stone kept perfectly upright (which it ought to be) with great simplicity, and without stress to any part of the machine. This is the ordinary method of hanging the runner. There is a more complex way of doing it, but Marshal says, he sees no advantage arising from it. There are some mills, it seems, with two runners, one opposite the other. On the inner arm of the axis, about a foot from the runner, is fixed (or ought to be, though it is frequently wanting) a cogged wheel working in a circle of cogs, fixed upon the bed of the mill. 3828. The diameter of the wheel is determined by the height of the axis above the bed of the mill. The diameter of the ring of cogs, by the distance of the wheel from the centre of motion. The use of these wheels is to prevent the runner from sliding, to which it is liable when the mill is full; the matter, when nearly ground, rising up in a body before the stone. Besides, by assisting the rotatory motion of the stone, it renders the work more easy to the horse. These wheels require to be made with great exactness: and in a country where carpenters are unaccustomed to them, a mill-wright should be employed in fixing them. The situation of the mill is such as to leave a horse-path, about three feet wide, between the bed and the walls'; so that a moderately sized mill, with its horse-path, takes up a space of fourteen or fifteen feet every way. 464 3829. A cider mill in use in the south of France (fig. 464.), is worked on a circular platform of boards, and instead of stone the wheel or conical roller (a) is of cast-iron. The fruit is spread thinly over the platform, and the roller moved round by one man or a woman. From the rollers covering more breadth than the narrow bark wheels in use in England, more fruit is crushed in a short time by this sort of mill, than would at first sight be supposed. 3830. An eligible description of mill, where cider is only made for private use, consists of a pair of fluted rollers working into each other. These rollers are of cast-iron, hollow, about nine inches diameter, with flutes or teeth, about an inch wide, and nearly as much deep. In general they are worked by hand, two men working against each other. Between these the fruit passes twice; the rollers being first set wide, to break it into fragments, and afterwards closer to reduce the fragments, and the seeds; the bruising of the latter, being of essential use in making high-flavored cider. 3831. The cider press is made on the principle of the common packing press, and therefore requires no particular description. On a small scale the cheese-press will answer every purpose. 3832. Cider cloths are used for containing the pommage in order to its being pressed. They are usually made of common hair-cloth; but such as is rather close in its texture is the best. The size is generally about four feet square; and they hold about two or three bushels, or as much as the mill can grind at once: and these are heaped over each other till the press is full. The larger presses will hold from eight to fifteen bags, which yield from one to two hundred gallons of liquor, according to the largeness of what is termed the cheese. To perform the work neatly, it is necessary to have two sets of these bags; for they clog and fur in pressing, and consequently become unfit for use till they have been washed and dried; so that, while this is doing, either the press must stand still, or another set be ready to employ it. But some, instead of hair bags, lay long straw under the pommage, the ends of which they turn up over it; then cover the pommage entirely with fresh clean straw, upon which they spread another layer of pommage: and so on, alternately, till the press is full. Either of the methods will do; but those who are desirous of doing the work in the neatest and best manner, generally use bags. 3833. The cider-vat is a vessel made for the purpose of receiving the pommage, or the cider before it is racked off into the cask. Vessels of this kind should be made of wood, as where lead is employed, it is liable to be corroded by the malic acid. 3834. Cider casks are the vessels employed for the keeping of the liquor. The choice of proper vessels to keep the cider in after it has fermented is very material, no liquor being so apt as this to take the taste or twang of the cask. New vessels, though the wood be ever so well seasoned, are apt to give a disagreeable relish to all liquors, and remarkably so to cider, unless due caution be used beforehand. Frequent scalding with hot water, into which some handsfull of salt have been first thrown, or with water in which some of the pommage has been boiled, and washing afterwards with cider, are the usual remedies against this evil, and seldom fail of removing it effectually. Of old casks, beer-vessels are the worst, as they always spoil cider; and, in return, cider-casks infallibly spoil beer. Wine and brandy casks do very well, provided the tartar adhering to their sides be carefully scraped off, and they are well scalded, CHAP. XI. Of the Laying Out of Farm and other Culturable Lands. 3835. The farming lands of an estate are in general the grand source of its annual rental. The demesne lands are chiefly for enjoyment; the roads afford no direct income; the villages, manufactories, commonly the mines and fisheries, and often also the woods, yield no income of consequence; but there remains the lands to be let out to the professional farmer, market gardener, nurseryman, and cottagers; from these the landlord generally derives his principal return for the capital laid out on the estate. Having therefore disposed of all the other parts of the territory, it remains only to arrange the farming or culturable lands in farms of different characters and sizes, in cottage lands, gardens, or orchard grounds: these may be considered in regard to their extent and arrangement. SECT. I. Of the Extent or Size of Farm and Cottage Lands. 2836. The proper size of farms, or of land to be let in any way, must necessarily be that which best suits the markets: not altogether the market of the moment, for there may be a run for large or for small farms; but the market on an average of years, times, and circumstances. If small farms and cottages, with minute portions of land attached, will bring higher rents than larger possessions, then unquestionably the landlord does well to arrange his territory in this way; unless it can be proved that a dealer in land has not the same right over his own property as a dealer in any other commodity. But it has been said by some that small, and by others that large farms are injurious to the country. Admitting for a moment that either was the case, will any man assert that an individual is to forego his own just advantage, for the sake of the public? Such a doctrine would be absurd, and lead to the most ruinous consequences to society, as might easily be proved by supposing a general extension of the principle of preferring the public benefit to one's own private advantage. - On this subject we submit the sentiments of the able author of the article Agriculture, in the Supp. to the Encyc. Brit., already often quoted. 3837. The various objections to large farms, which were urged by Dr. Price, Lord Kaimes, and most of the economical writers of the last century, we have not here room to examine. Much stronger reasons, certainly, than any that have been hitherto advanced, must be required to justify the interference of the legislature with the rights of the agricultural classes — with that of a landholder to draw the greatest revenue from his property, and with that of a farmer to extend his concerns as far as his capital and abilities will permit. Even though it should be conceded to Dr. Price, that a given extent of land yields a greater produce in the hands of several small farmers than of one great farmer, it still remains to inquire, what part of that produce can be spared for the general consumption? —and whether the labor of these people might not be employed with more advantage than on such minute portions of land, as yield, even in the best seasons, little more than food for their own subsistence? In Britain, of which the families employed in agriculture are to those of the whole population only as one to 2.84, and in which the proportion of lands cultivated, or that may be cultivated, is not four acres to every individual, the great object ought certainly to be, to increase the disposable produce of the country for the supply of the general population. 3838. The grand objection to large farms, that they depopulate the country, is not supported by facts. The population of the country has not only greatly increased since the enlargement of farms, but, in the ten years from 1801 to 1811, this increase appears to have been only two per cent, less than that of the town population. The fact is, that the increase of the rural population has been in a greater ratio than that of the town population, in those counties, such as Northumberland, where very large farms abound; and where, indeed, as is usually the case, this state of things is combined with a spirited and productive system of agriculture. Even in Lancashire, the ratio of increase is only two per cent. in favour of the towns; but no one will ascribe this to the enlargement of farms. The truth seems to be, that, wherever agriculture has made the greatest progress, whatever may be the size of the farms, the increase of employment has been attended with a corresponding increase of population; and that the ratio of increase has been kept down below that of towns, by no other causes than the stationary condition or slow progress of agriculture in some parts, and the superior allurements of manufactures and commerce in others. It is further to be remarked, that, throughout the whole of the arable districts of Scotland, the number of people is proportionably greater on large than on small farms. The number of hands required on the former is too great to be lodged in the farmer's own house; and, therefore, on all such farms, cottages are built for their residence. These cottages are generally inhabited by married men, whose families find employment in hoeing green crops, and other easy work, from a very early age. In the less improved counties, on the other hand, where small farms still prevail, unmarried servants are preferred, as, on such farms, there is little or no employment for the families of married servants. Our limits do not permit us to enquire how far the poor laws of England operate against the employment of married servants, living in cottages on every farm; but the happy effects of this arrangement are manifest in the south-eastern counties of Scotland, as we shall notice immediately. 3839. Cottage farms. The possession of land is held by some writers to be so important, with a view to the comforts of the laboring classes, as well as to the increase of the rural population, that they have not been contented with objecting to large farms, but have proceeded to recommend what are called cottage farms, for country laborers generally. Of this plan we might say at once, that it must be limited every where by the demand for labor; and that, wherever such small allotments are required by the state of agriculture, they will gradually be formed from motives of interest, without the necessity of any higher control. They are at this time common in many parts of Britain; and a different system has been established in other parts, for no other reason than because of its superior advantages to all concerned. Yet, as cottage-farms bear a very plausible appearance in the eye of speculative men, it seems necessary to offer some further remarks on a question which has been so often agitated. 3840. If every laborer had a comfortable cottage, and four acres of land at a moderate rent, as recommended by some of the correspondents of the Board of Agriculture, there is reason to believe that his condition might be much improved for a few years, supposing his demand for labor to continue the same as at present. Even the colonies which this class would every year send forth in quest of new cottages might be supplied for a time; and though the wages of labor must sink very fast, still this premium might enable the laborers to multiply with little interruption for several generations. At last, however, the multiplication of cottage-farms must necessarily stop, and a great proportion of the people, without land and without the means of employment, would either sink into helpless misery, or be driven by despair to the commission of every species of enormity. Such was the state of England at the breaking up of the feudal system, the policy of which also was to increase the number of the people, without regard to the means of their employment; and such, though in a much less degree, is the present state of those parts of the united kingdom in which cottage-farms are the most prevalent. whole question, we think, is capable of being most satisfactorily decided, by an appeal to the plain mercantile criterion of rent. If a hundred laborers, each of them possessing four acres, can pay a higher rent than one farmer can pay for the whole four hundred, buildings, fences, and repairs being estimated, we can see no reason why they should not be preferred; but if this be not the case, we are greatly at a loss to conceive with what justice landholders can be called upon to submit to sacrifices which no other class of the community is ever expected to make. We might, with just as much reason and justice, require a manufacturer to employ a certain number of hands in proportion to the amount of his capital, however unprofitable to him might be their labor. The 3841. There are two sorts of cottages occupied by two distinct classes of laborers in all our best agricultural counties. Of the first sort are the small agricultural villages, where those mechanics and other laborers reside, who could not find full employment on any one farm. To such men small farms are advantageous, or otherwise, according to the nature and the constancy of their employment. The other class of cottagers, to which we bave already alluded, are ploughmen and other servants employed throughout the year on a particular farm. To these men small possessions of land are almost as unsuitable as they would be to a country gentleman's domestics. But a small garden is usually attached to each cottage; and they are also allowed to keep a cow, as part of their wages not upon any particular spot of their own, but along with their master's cows. Their fuel is carried home by their masters' teams, and a part of his own field, ready dressed, is assigned them for raising potatoes, flax, or other crops for their families. Thus, with little risk from the seasons or markets, and without any other demand on their time than a few leisure hours will satisfy, these people enjoy all the advantages which the occupancy of land can confer on a laborer. And there is not a more useful, we may also add, a more comfortable body of men among the industrious classes of society. To give this class of laborers four acres of land, along with every cottage, would be to render them bad servants, and worse farmers; and either a nuisance to the person on whose farm they reside, or his abject dependants for employment. The only proper residence for men who do not choose to engage, or are not wanted, as constant laborers, is in such central agricultural villages as we have just mentioned, and not on separate farms, where they are excluded from the general market for labor. 3842. Of all the witnesses examined before the late committees of parliament on the corn laws, there is only one whose sentiments are opposed to the general feeling of all well informed men, regarding the advantages that have resulted from the enlargement of farms. We shall, therefore, content ourselves with noticing what appears to be the natural progress in the size of farms; the circumstances which prevent any possible en Rr |