500 Transactions of the 



and uncertainties that surround it; and we ask that it shall not be 

 overburdened with taxation; and that if we may receive no assistance, 

 that intelligible laws may govern us, applicable to our necessities, and 

 not filled with the most annoying provisions. We cannot be successful 

 in this great national and State interest until all restrictions are removed 

 from the grape and its products; and I would recommend that, if the 

 Government will not assist us, that the Legislature of the State pay the 

 tax for us. 



Americans, as Frenchmen, should learn to distinguish between brandy 

 and "marc brandy;" the former made of the juice of the grape, and 

 the latter from the marc or pomace, or refuse of the grape, after the 

 juice has been pressed from it. In France, " marc brandy" is designated 

 and sold as such, at vastly inferior figures from that of Cognac brandy. 



Some idea may be formed of the extent of a brandy establishment in 

 Cognac, when you know that that of Henesy covers five acres of ground; 

 that he has depots and agents over Upper and Lower Charante, an 

 extent of fifty miles square, and that he is prepared to dispatch twelve 

 hundred pipes, and fourteen hundred cases of brandy in a day. And 

 some idea may be formed of the adulteration in the United States when 

 you are informed that the shipment to New York from the above estab- 

 lishment has fallen from thirty thousand gallons per year to three 

 thousand. The adulteration has gone to that extent that gentlemen 

 prefer to drink whisk}', knowing it is impossible to procure pure brandy; 

 and that so certain are all physicians of this adulteration, that brandy is 

 no longer prescribed. I have sent samples of brandy made of the 

 Mission, La Folle, Eeisling, Charboneau, Trousseau, Eosa de Peru, and 

 Catawba wines, and would request }'our opinion regarding the order of 

 merit due to each. 



HENEY M. NAGLEE, 



San Jose. 



WINE MAKING AND FINING. 



Having the honor of being appointed as one to make a report on 

 wine making -and fining, I will enter into this large and inexhaustible 

 field, but only with fear, knowing full well that it is impossible to give 

 in such a short space anything like a clear and comprehensible idea, 

 particularly to beginners. Nevertheless, I will give my experience, the 

 way I see it, and hope it may be of some advantage to our fellow wine 

 growers. 



Eipe, fine-flavored kinds of grapes will make fine-tasting wines, if 

 properly managed, while such cannot be said of other kinds, or such 

 that have not grown on proper ground. Low ground, particularly in 

 California, with few exceptions, is not suitable for wine purposes; the 

 country being of granite formation, which forms salts, collecting by rains 

 in the valleys, together with an excess of vegetable matter, which 

 makes it not only detrimental in wine making, but imparts a bad taste 

 also. Mission or California grapes are rich in sugar when full}' ripe, 

 produce a great deal of alcohol, but have little flavor or bouquet. Eat 

 this not being my object, I will return to nry task. I will only make 

 two classes — light and heavy wines — and leave out all different shades 

 and colors. Light wines can be made in any part of the State where 

 grapes will ripen perfectly. There are kinds of grapes which will never 

 obtain that high percentage of sugar to be detrimental for making light 



