Page:Husbandman and Housewife 1820.djvu/39

 kept open in the summer, and the casks should stand steady and not be shaken to disturb the sediment.

The casks which contain new cider should be filled perfectly full to permit the froth or pummice to discharge itself at the bung. The pressure of the pummice should be slow that the liquor may run the clearer. Some say that if the cider be racked off in a week after it is made, ceasing the moment it becomes muddy; in ten days a second time, and in fifteen days a third time, it will need no other process for fining or purifying it. In every instance the casks should be clean, and perfectly filled, and when filled for the last time should be bunged up close, and placed in a deep, dry cellar, never to be moved till drawn off for use.

The later the apples hang on the trees, the more spirit the cider will contain. In bottling cider it is recommended to raise the proof of the cider by putting in about two tea spoonfuls of French brandy to each bottle, which will check fermentation, and prevent the bursting of the bottles.

IT is said that a few leaves of elder, strewed on the floor of a room infested with cock-roaches will extirpate those insects.

DUN, or dried cod-fish ought not to be boiled to have it tender; it operates as on an egg, an oyster or a clam, the more you boil it the harder it grows. Let it simmer on or near the fire, in a kettle, two or three hours according as the fish is hard, and then change the water; and before dishing, put this up to near 2