mend in their systems of manufacture. It is proposed to notice, first of all, one of these factories run on what seemed to be questionable methods. There is a very modern school of French cider makers, whose claims and pretentions deserve more than passing notice, especially since it is proposed to introduce their system into the United States. The system referred to is known in France as the Noël system, and involves pretended secret processes which it is claimed perform wonders in the handling of cider fruit, the storage and keeping of ciders, etc. The writer had several conferences with the promoters of this scheme in Paris, and was offered full instruction in the methods for a period of seventy or eighty days for 30,000 francs, on condition that the methods should never be divulged! During these conferences FIG. 10. Fermentation and storage room, Noël system, France. and later in visiting some of the factories it was ascertained that the so-called system consisted of nothing peculiarly valuable. The procedure was much the same as in other factories. The fruit was ground and pressed, then the pomace was exhausted by diffusion with warm water, a method often used in France, and the resulting musts were united and sugared to a condition which would make a fair cider. A great pretense was made of securing valuable principles lost to others by exhausting the mare in warm water. By sugaring up the weak must secured by exhausting the pomace with water, about double the quantity of cider is made that can be usually obtained by using pure juice. This is truly an old secret! However, the plan of one factory which was twice visited is quite unique, and for that reason is presented somewhat fully. The building is a fine new brick structure in a suburb of Versailles. The surroundings are much like those of a home. The family lives in the front of the structure, and here the office is also located. Extending back from the front is a rectangular structure two stories high and about 40 feet wide by 150 feet long. The lower story of this rear structure comprises one large room with very heavy brick walls without windows. This room is entered from the front by large doors, and has a rear door of smaller size. Along the sides of this room, against the walls, are ranged great tanks about 60 in number with total capacity reaching possibly 200,000 gallons. The illustration (fig. 10) shows a perspective view down the center of the room. Each tank is furnished with a faucet near the bottom, and a glass tube communicating with the interior rises the full height of the tank, showing at a glance the height of the liquor within. The top is tightly closed, but a manhole for entering the tank and taps for introducing the must are provided. The center of this room is occupied by casks, pumps, and paraphernalia for racking and handling the cider. Also great cart loads of fruit in sacks are brought from the railway station, driven to the center of this floor, and elevated to the upper story by a power lift, worked by a gasoline engine in the second story. The second story is used to store fruit, and here is also located the grinder, the gasoline engine which furnishes all the power for the plant, and the tubs or tanks for exhausting the pomace. The fruit for grinding is thrown into a tank of water in which rests the lower end of an elevator screw which lifts it to the grinding cylinders. From the grinder the pomace falls into the press, where it is made up into cheeses after the American fashion and pressed immediately. The object of throwing the fruit into the tank of water is to wash it, which is fairly well accomplished by the motion of the elevator screw. The exhaustion of the pomace after pressing is accomplished by diffusion with warm water, as already stated. The operations of blending and sugaring were not shown, nor were the details of the system of fermenting and racking explained other than in vague terms. However, the must is both fermented and stored on the first floor and is run off into casks for market as desired. The product, as sampled in several stages of manufacture, was very inferior, and had little resemblance to that of standard Normandy ciders. This factory is making about 200,000 gallons of cider annually. The construction of the factory, arrangement of machinery, tanks, etc., is quite unique, and apparently advantageous. A characteristic of the French "cidreries" was the almost total absence of cellars. Thus, in the factory just described the storage is wholly above ground. This is the rule in France, while just the opposite is true of Germany. La Cidrerie de l'Union Agricole.-The best type of factory examined in the French cider country is that of an agricultural union at St. Ouen-de-Thouberville, a short distance from Rouen. This establishment, built and operated upon a cooperative plan, is a model in its mechanical appointments, and the technique of its operations seemed to leave little to be desired. The general manager is Monsieur Gustave Power, the noted authority on pomology, whose books have been officially adopted by the minister of agriculture for use in the schools. of France. The writer was most courteously received by this cultured gentleman, and given every facility to examine and study the details and methods of the establishment, which is, perhaps, representative of the best type in France. The ground plan of the main factory is shown in figure 12. In total dimensions, the building is approximately 300 feet long by 100 feet wide. A study of the vertical longitudinal section (fig. 11) will help to give a clear idea of the plan and workings of this factory. It will be seen that to the rear of the main operating room of the ground floor one can step up a few feet into the main fermenting room, or down a few feet into a half-cellar used for the finishing processes of fermentation and for storage. The surface of the ground slopes from the front to the rear of the building, so that this lower room ends at ground level. This gives an important advantage in the ease with which the finished product can be loaded on trucks for transport. The operation of this factory will be better understood by following the usual course of the fruit and must as they pass through the several processes to the finished product. The carts laden with apples in sacks enter the shed in front of the factory, and by a hoist, operated from the main shaft within, the fruit is lifted to the second floor, where it is weighed and put in bins according to varieties and quality. These bins cover nearly all of the second floor, and are only 18 inches deep, strict rules as to methods of storage being observed. With the fruit thus distributed, it is possible to observe critically its condition and to grind as it comes to proper maturity; also the careful distribution in accordance with the quality makes it easy to blend the fruit so as to produce desired grades of must. When ready to grind, the fruit is measured to the machine in proper proportions. The grinder stands at the floor level of this storeroom. Formerly the fruit was washed, but now this is only resorted to in case of necessity. The fruit is, however, run over a slatted "way" or chute in its progress to the cylinders and much trash is screened out, an attendant watching that foreign substances likely to damage the grinders do not pass. From the grinders the pulp drops into a chute, which delivers it at the pleasure of the operator into one or another of the several pomace vats. The custom is to fill one after another of the vats, the pulp being allowed to remain for some hours before pressing. This maceration of the pulp in its own juice is thought to aid in extracting the sugar content and to give better color to the must through certain chemical changes caused by the action of |