22 Rhodora [FEBRUARY 
(Johannisbeeren). If the Red Currant-wine was drunk with sugar, it 
was in taste almost as good as red wine, and was even stronger; more- 
over it did not ferment as easily." ! 
In Livonia, ** Out of the berries is also made a wine pleasing to us, 
for, if it is well prepared, it resembles pretty much in taste red Bur- 
gundy. .... From the dregs left in the cask one can also distill a 
brandy, which is as good as French brandy."? In Germany, “One 
prepares from it [the Red currant] jelly, a champagne-like wine, which 
keeps several years, and a very good vinegar.” * And in England, 
“Currant wine [from the Red Currant] is made by fermenting the 
juice with sugar, and is considered as one of the best ‘home-made 
wines,' as we may gather from the nursery song of the tempting quali- 
ties of ‘cherry pie and currant wine.” 4 
Barton and Castle tell us that "the fruit of the Black Currant 
[Ribes nigrum, the ‘Svarte Vinbaer’ of Scandinavians], though dis- 
agreeable to many persons in its recent state, is much used in forming 
a pleasant and wholesome wine, and a grateful preserve. In Russia 
and Siberia, a wine is made of the berries alone, or with the addition 
of honey; and also a distilled spirit.” * Syme makes a similar state- 
ment, that “in Siberia....the berries being fermented with honey, a 
powerful spirit is distilled from them." * And Alphonse de Candolle 
states that the Black Currant is “used in the manufacture of the 
liqueurs known as ratafia and cassis." ? 
The other * Wine-berry" of northern Europe is quite different in 
appearance from the Currant, yet it was likewise confused by early 
1* Aus den rothen und weissen Johannisbeeren war hier Wein gepresset worden. Wenn 
der rothe Johannisbeeren-Wein mit Zucker getrunken ward, so gab er an Geschmack, 
dem rothen Weine wenig nach, und war schier stürker, kam auch nicht so leicht in 
Arbeit," Then follows a long account of the method of preparing the wine.— Linnaeus, 
Reisen durch das Königreich Schweden, 313 (1756). 
? “ Aus den Beeren wird auch ben uns ein gegohrner Wein gemacht, der, wenn er gut 
gerathen ist, dem rothen Burgunderwein am Geschmack ziemlich gleichkommt.... 
Von dem im Gefüsse nachgebleibenen Hefen kann man einen Brandwein destilliren, der so 
gut ist, als der Franzbrandwein," — J. B. Fischer, Versuch einer Naturgeschichte von 
Livland, 443 (1791). 
3 * Man bereitet aus ihnen Gelée, einen dem Champagner ühnlichen Wein, welcher sich 
mehre Jahre?háült, unt einen sehr guten Essig" — Schlechtendal, Langethal & Schenk, 
Flora von Deutschland, 5te Aufl. xxii. 275 (1885). 
4 Syme, English Botany, iv. 43 (1873). 
5 Barton & Castle, British Flora Medica, i. 242 (1845). 
6 Syme, English Botany, iv. 46 (1873). 
7 "Il est employé dans la fabrication des liqueurs appelées ratafia et cassis" — De 
Candolle, Origine des Plantes Cultivées, 222 (1883). 
