Possibly the course of time has made us merrier than our forbears; at all events “melancholy” is a disease for which no remedy is prescribed in the modern editions of the Pharmacopœia. What with musical farces, and Arthur Roberts, and the means to purchase a “livener” next morning, no citizen of London is justified in the possession of lowness of spirits. {180} Making cider is easy enough, but requires, like all other manufactures, care and a modicum of common sense. And here let me join issue with those who maintain that the inferiority of English cider is due to the antiquated methods employed in making it. In the first place I question the inferiority; and in the second, although it is a fact that there is very little difference between the methods of to-day and two hundred years ago, we are more careful, on the whole, in the selection of the material. Far more important than complicated machinery is the proper choice of apples. Grow these in a scientific way, and do not eat all the best for dessert. The cider apple should be neither green nor over-ripe—and certainly not rotten like those used occasionally for the harvesters—free from injury (and therefore not a “windfall”) and just full ripe. The selected fruit should be placed in a mill which breaks them up and pulps them; the pulp is then put under a press, and squeezed dry to the last drop. The liquid is then left to ferment, and this process should be very gradual, and be closely watched. Finally the cider is drawn off, the finest qualities being bottled, and they may be regarded as pure wine. At all events they are frequently sold “as sich.” It is claimed that cider, when pure and well made, is not merely an extremely wholesome drink, but a very helpful one to those who suffer from gout or rheumatism. It is asserted that cider will even cure these painful disorders, and that those who drink the juice of the apple are far less subject to aching joints and limbs than {181} other quaffers. It is the “malic acid” in the liquor which is so inimical to these diseases; and as a cider-drinker of considerable experience, and a sad sufferer, at times, from both diseases, I can safely say that there is no “touch” of either in the “natural” Norfolk cider made by Messrs. Gaymer—a dry wine which is very palatable, and is one of the best and the most wholesome of beverages.