THE AMERICAN CHAMPAGNE DISTRICT. 753 



end of the rows, and there gathered two or three times a day and 

 drawn to the packing house. The fruit that is not packed in 

 boxes for market is stored in crates or on trays and, by proper 

 ventilation and temperature it can be kept fresh and fair for sev- 

 eral months. This gives the grower a long range of season, and 

 choice table grapes are supplied from October till the following 

 March or April. 



This grape-picking time is a kind of long and pleasant picnic 

 all the more pleasant for being a busy one. The men and women 

 look forward to it from year to year as a chance to earn money 

 to carry them through the winter, while the young people re- 

 gard the season as one of recreation and enjoyment. The most 

 expert pickers are the women and girls. They come from the 

 neighboring farms and country villages. The usual rate of wages 

 is one dollar per day without " board," or three dollars per week 

 with board. 



The Lake Keuka grape crop is sent to market in small bask- 

 ets. Last year (1893) the number of cars shipped from the district 

 was not less than 2,200. As each car holds from 2,500 to 2,700 

 baskets, the reader can form some correct idea of the quantity of 

 grapes produced annually in this one district. The bulk of the 

 crop is sent to the Eastern cities New York, Philadelphia, and 

 Boston. The growers send table-grapes as far west as Omaha and 

 Denver, and last season several carloads were shipped to the 

 Northwest, and even to Manitoba. 



At the present time the wine cellars take a very small per cent- 

 age of the total crop. It is estimated that the twelve wineries in 

 the Keuka Lake district use from 5,000 to 6,000 tons of grapes dur- 

 ing the season. There is now an overproduction of grapes for 

 table purposes. The growers look to the growing wants of the 

 wine cellars to take their surplus crop. With the increasing de- 

 mand for American wines, especially for champagne and delicate 

 table wines, the time should be not far distant when the output of 

 the cellars will be ten times as great as it is to-day. 



Of course, the reader will be interested in learning how the pure, 

 sweet juice of the grape is converted into lively, sparkling cham- 

 pagne. There is more or less of a veil of secrecy thrown around 

 the ways and methods of the champagne-maker; for he is an 

 artist and does not wish to disclose the mysteries of his art. What 

 follows concerning the various processes through which the wine 

 goes in its successive stages is the result of a visit made last au- 

 tumn to the largest establishment of its kind in the United States. 



The building of A. B. & Co. is on the shore of the lake, and, 



being constructed of huge blocks of quarried stone, looks like a 



mediaeval castle. The outside gives one little notion of the size 



and capacity of the establishment. There are fourteen separate 



VOL. xLv. 55 



