State Agricultural Society. 515 



at least, and as much in advance of that as possible. So } r ou will per- 

 ceive that the wines in famous Italy were not always good. An old 

 author, however, says that in the better days of our Lady of Loretto 

 they had a cellar of remarkably good wine there for the use of the faith- 

 ful. The Church, as was her custom; exhibited her good taste, constantly 

 keeping up a stock of not less than one hundred and fifty tons for this 

 purpose, say three hundred pipes. The wines of Vicenza had once a 

 good name; they were styled, in the way of the Italians, who love 

 epithets, "dolce et piccante." "The wine of Vicenza," the "Bread of 

 Padua," the "Pipe of Traviso." and the "Courtezans of Venice" were 

 formerly said to be the best of their kind in the world, and I presume 

 that the man who wrote that had a right to know. Be this as it may, 

 my friends, in our business of grape growing and wine making, let us 

 endeavor to emulate all that is good in our predecessors, and ignore the 

 bad. I hope that in your efforts to establish a State Association you 

 may be crowned with success; and you must recollect that there is no 

 success in any cause among idlers or drones; everything requires work, 

 and if you still find there is. something needed, you may be sure that it 

 is a little more work. 



J. B. SNYDEB, 

 Sonoma. 



BBANDY FEOM GEAPE POaIACE. 



Mr. President and Members of the Vinegr'owers and Wine- and Brandy 

 Manufacturers' Association: 



At the last meeting of the association there was some discussion 

 on the manufacture of brandy; on which occasion I took the ground 

 that a good brand}- can be made from marc. That no more fusel oil 

 should be left in the brandy than was obsolutely necessary to give 

 it the characteristic flavor of the grape after attaining the age of a 

 year or more. That steam was better than the direct action of fire for 

 the purpose of distillation, and on those points I wish to quote a few 

 authorities. The United States Dispensatory, AVood and Bache, page 

 801, says: "There are volatile principles naturally existing in the 

 grains, which accompany the liquor in all its changes, and give their 

 characteristic flavor to the resulting spirit. These can scarcely be con- 

 sidered as impurities; but there are others produced during the process 

 of fermentation, which serve seriously to contaminate the product. 

 Among these is fusel oil or grain oil (amylic alcohol), which is offensive 

 both to the smell and taste, and of which it is very desirable that the 

 spirit should be freed as far as possible. As this oil has a considerably 

 higher boiling point than alcohol, or even water, it is mainly left behind, 

 if the distillation be not carried too far; yet portions still rise, and, to a 

 certain extent, impregnate the spirit." From the 2sew York Journal of 

 Pharmacy, page 257: "Crude fusel oil (or oil of grain spirit) when dis- 

 tilled in a glass retort commences to pass over at about 190 deg. Fahr., 

 and a considerable portion is- obtained below 212 deg." Again, American 

 Journal of Pharmacy, page 417: " With respect to the history of fusel 

 oil: As is well known, Pumas obtained it first from the fermentation 

 of potatoes. Ballard showed that with this, the oil obtained from the 

 fermentation of grapes was in its principal constituent (amylic alcohol) 

 identical; and Vfedlock and Bowney showed the same to be the case 

 with the fusel oil of the English and Scotch distillers." Dupluis, who is 



