THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



389 



them situated. The vine grows in every soil ; but that 

 which is light and gravelly is best adapted. The debris 

 of granite rocks, and beds bearing marks of volcanic 

 action, are peculiarly favourable to its growth. Here we 

 find a thin calcareous soil. The vines upon these slopes 

 remind us of Kent, where poles are used to support the 

 hop; for, in consequence of the cold and wet weather 

 often prevalent at this latitude, they are not allowed to 

 trail upon the ground as they do in the south, to prevent 

 evaporation of moisture from the soil. 



The vintage commences when the leaves begin to fall, 

 and the juice is sweet, bland, thick, and clammy. The 

 fruit is usually gathered before the sun has risen, by 

 which means a briskness is jriven to tl.e wine, and its 

 quantity is increased by 1 in 24. A sufficient quantity 

 of fruit is gathered iu a day to fill one vat, so that it 

 may all ferment equally ; and this gathering is per- 

 formed by women with scissors, cutting the ripest 

 bunches and mixing with them a small proportion of 

 the slightly unripe berries. For the red vins de Cham- 

 pagne the fruit is gathered dry after the sun has risen. 

 And now commence the labour and the risk which 

 raise the price of these wines so high, irrespective of 

 duty. The fermentation of those intended to be brisk 

 and sparkling is very tedious. The liquid or must is 

 soon passed from the vat into the cask. And while in 

 cask those wines obtained from the first, second, and 

 third, or final pressure of the fruit, and known rela- 

 tively as vins f/ris, ceil de perilrix, and vins de tuille, 

 which are most coloured, are mixed together. Thus 

 when the vins gris has fermented in casks ten or twelve 

 days, the bung holes are closed, and spigot holes are 

 left, through which the casks are filled up from time to 

 time with the other varieties, upon a systematic plan. 

 Wines bottled any time between the vintage and the fol- 

 lowing May will be sparkling. They begin to sparkle 

 after having been six weeks in bottle, and the mountain 

 sorts earlier. Bottled in June they will sparkle but 

 little, and bottled so late as October they will acquire 

 the condition termed slill. 



Being in bottle a second fermentation is induced, by 

 putting into each bottle a small glass of what is called 

 liqueur — sugar-candy dissolved in wine, and fined to 

 brightness. " This fermentation produces a fresh de- 

 posit of sediment. In this process the greatest atten- 

 tion is requisite, and the bottles are closely watched, the 

 temperature of the air carefully regulated, to promote 

 or check the fermentation ; yet thousands of bottles 

 explode — so many that 10 per cent, is always charged 

 as a cost of manufacture." This is particularly the 

 case in seasons of great and sudden heat. In April, 

 1843, Madame Clicquot, the largest grower in France, 

 lost 25 per cent., or 400,000 bottles, before fermenta- 

 tion could be reduced by large supplies of ice. 



"After clouding with fermentation in the bottles, the 

 wine begins to deposit a sediment, and the bottles are 

 placed v/ith their ntcks downward on long shelves, 

 having holes obliquely cut in them so that the bottoms 

 are scarcely raised. Every day the attendant lifts the 

 end of each bottle, and after a slight vibration replaces 

 it a Utile more upright in the hole, thus detaching the 

 sediment from the side, and letting it pass towards the 

 neck of the bottle." This process is continued until all 

 the sediment has gravitated to the neck. Then a man 

 takes the bottle, holds it steadily, mouth down- 

 wards, to a recess prepared for the operation, cuts the 

 wire, and affay goes the cork, and sediment, and 

 part of the wine. But to conduct tliis operation 

 with anything like economy, a quick hand is needed to 

 replace an old cork, with as little loss of time and wine 

 as possible. The bottle is filled up with purified wine 

 and again stacked, to be submitted to a second disgorge- 



ment, and sometimes a third. It is then fitted, by ano- 

 ther dose of candy prepared in white wine, for any 

 particular market, which imparts a pleasant sweetness, 

 and aids its sparkling condition when opened. Thus 

 every bottle passes through the workman's hands 200 

 times before the wine is perfectly cleared. 



The demand for this class of wine ban so much in- 

 creased latterly, that we now are introduced to various 

 imitations, in sparkling Hock, Burgundy, and Moselle. 

 And even here we do not escape adulteration, for at 

 Cette and Paris are manufactories, where poor light 

 wines are fined with candy, and passed through an 

 apparatus that charges them with carbonic acid gas. 



Respecting the quantity that is made, the genuine 

 production of these Champagne districts exceeds fifty 

 millions of bottles, and the price at Epernay being from 

 2 to 3 francs, or Is. 8d. to 2s. 6d. per bottle, supposing 

 the duty here to be 3s. per gallon, or 6d. per bottle, and 

 the cari'iage, and wine merchants' profits amount to Is. 

 per bottle, we shall find the genuine article upon our 

 tables at something like 4s. per bottle. 



It is, however, proposed to vary the duty according 

 to the strength of the spirit in any given wine, and as 

 champagne has but a small proportion of alcohol, it will 

 be probably introduced into this country after the 1st of 

 April, 1801, at a charge of Is. per gallon, instead of Ss., 

 as it stands upon Mr, Gladstone's improved tariff. 



The lion of the neighbourhood is to be seen at 

 Challons-sur-Marne, a town with 14,000 inhabitants, a 

 little higher up the river than Epernay — I mean M. 

 Jaqueson's champagne cellars. Tiiey are plainly visible 

 from the station, and a little on the right. It is said 

 that the French Government hired his cask and packing 

 shed for six months to barrack 4,000 men. That gives 

 you some idea of their space. Here you generally will 

 find four millions of bottles, ready for sale. Tliey are 

 deposited in galleries, excavated in the chalk rock, 

 about six miles long, intersected by tramways communi- 

 cating with the railways, and perfectly lighted by metal 

 reflectors, placed at the bottom of the air-shafts. 



Our good teetotal friends, people with excellent in- 

 tentions, will be somewhat scared by this vision, more 

 scared even than the extinct disciples of that school who 

 some years back beheld blessing in sterility, ruin in 

 fertility, and who accustomed themselves to lament about 

 " superabundance of production." 



Cheap wines will be more effective than temperance 

 pledges ; and, Christian though I am, I very much incline 

 to the idea of a Heathen poet, who has elegantly repre- 

 sented wine as a recompence given by the Deities for 

 the misery brought upon mankind by the general 

 Deluge, 



Bring forth the (aper-necked bottle, fill a bumper, 

 and let us drink to the future vintages of the Marne, 



F, R. S. 



A WRINKLE FOR FARMERS.— When any of your 

 cattle happen to gttjwelled with an over-feedxf clover, froaty 

 turnips, or auch like, apply a dose of train'oil, which, after re- 

 peated trials, has been found to prove successful. The quan- 

 tity of oil must vary according to the age and size of the ani- 

 mal. For a grown-up beast of ordinary size the quantity 

 recoQimended is about an^Eiiglish pint, which can be adminit- 

 tered readily enough, taking care at the same time to rub the 

 belly well, iu order to make it go down. After receiving this 

 mediciue, the beast should be made to walk about till such 

 time as the swelling begins to aubside. 



