624 



Journal of Agriculiiiri 



[11 Oct., 1909. 



butt 6 of stage 111. ; instead of thi.s wine being fed into butt 6 of stage 

 II., it is distributed evenly throughout the whole of stage II. — 2\ gallons 

 to each butt, and so on with each butt of each stage in succession. All 

 transfers being made with the syphon and bucket, this seemingly compli- 

 cated distribution is made eas\— far more so than it rnuld be were cellar 

 pumps in general use. 



It may happen, from some reason or another, that an individual butt 

 of a solera should become faultv. Its contents, in their forward march, 

 would contaminate the next stage of the series. Frequent tasting is neces- 

 sary to guard against such a contingency and to insure that all are in 

 good order. Should a faultx cask be discovered. — as occasionallv, though 

 rarely happens — it is immediately withdrawn and a clean butt substituted 

 for it which is filled with w'ine. withdrawn in equal ijuantitv from the 

 other butts of the same st:ige. The butts of a solera are ne\er ouite 

 full ; the amount of ullage varies according to the nature of the wine, 

 being greatest in the case of fino soleras which require more air in order 

 that flor may thrive — usuallv this varies between J and 1-20 of the total 

 bulk of the cask. 



BOTTLING ESTABLISliMLNT OF MESSRS. DIEZ HERMANOS. 



Sulphur is but little u.sed in Jerez in connexion with the handling of 

 the wine, though empty casks are sulphured in the ordinary way in (irder 

 to keep them sweet. 1Miis is not astonishing, seeing that the presence 

 of sulphurous acid, or any other antiseptic, would hinder the develop- 

 ment of flor. 



Elasticitv of tme System. 



The simple form of soh-ra represented in 'lur diagram must not he 

 looked upon as a definite ty|)e universally adopted. In reality, they varv 

 verv considerablv in constitution, arrangement and manngement. The svs- 

 tem allows a very great measure of elasticity — the different .stages, even 

 of a given solera, do not necessarily consist of the same number of butts. 



