2-889-335 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Cider-Making in Devonshire - Pound-House - the Mill and Press - Piling "The Mock", 1850. View showing the '...rollers, between which the fruit is crushed...These rollers are worked by a large wheel driven by horses, and the ground apples are dropped into a trough under the shoot. The base of the press has a ledge with a mouth in the front, from which the expressed juice flows into a vessel placed underneath...As the liquor flows it is exceedingly sweet and luscious, and the new cider has a strong aperient effect when drunk. The pile of "mock," of a square form, is made with alternate layers of reed or straw and crushed apples...When the pile is sufficiently high, the flat board over the heads of the figures is brought down upon it, and screwed tight by means of a long lever. The cider now flows freely... This process is repeated several times...until no more cider flows out of it'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.