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 a _gallon of cider_ for 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 face his 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:— Take of Vinegar (or sweeter still, cider) 1 pint. Brown sugar (or treacle) 1 pound. Water 7 quarts. 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. 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.