410 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDBffiDEHS. 



[ Jnno 17, 1889. 



be remedied, and hit-or-mies modes of proceeding have greatly 

 tended to briijg oar Euglibh wines into bad repute. 



I trust I am not beouming tedious, but I feel I am writing 

 far beginners, and that I must enter into full particulars in 

 order to suit all persons who may feel interested in the sulijeot, 

 and I tbiuk I caunot do better now than give a digest cf the 

 manner in which I operated last year, as being my beat practice 

 up to the present time. 



DioEST, 1868.— Made forty gallons of Ehubarb and Goose- 

 berry wine. 



Jul.> 3rd. Gathered 200 lbs. of Ehubarb and 80 lbs. of Goose- 

 benies. I could not obtain 100 lbs. of the latter, otherwise I 

 shouM have preferred that neight. 



July 4ih. Crushed the Ehubarb and Gooseberries with a 

 large pestle and mortar; entered the juice into the working- 

 pans, and added C giiUons of clean water at a temperature of 

 60° to the mast. The saceharometer indexed 7° of natural 

 sweetness. Covered Ihe ninst with old blanketing in a tempe- 

 rature of between 60° and 70°. 



July &<h, saceharometer 7J°. July 7tb, 8°. July 8th, 7i°. 

 Preseed-off the juice through a winopresB, and it ran 29! gallons. 

 Put immediately 12 gallons of water, at a temperature of 80°, 

 to the btraioed mast, stirred well, and then pressed off. The 

 liquid produced measured lOJ gullous; put it to the first run- 

 nings, making a total of 40 gallons of crude juice and water, 

 in which the saceharometer flouted at 3°. Dissolved 7^ Ihe. of 

 honey, which brought the aaceharometer up to 54° ; thou stirred 

 into the liquor J lb. of red argol and 130 lbs. of loaf sugar, 

 which, when quite dissolved, brought the specific gravity up to 

 44°. I firBt dissolved only 120 lbs. of sugar, and felt my way 

 to 44° of gravi'y by adding the rest by degrees. Covered the 

 whole over as before in a tempeyature of from 55° to 60°. 



July 9ih. Fermputation begintiDg; saceharometer 44;°. 

 July 10 h, sac. 451°; lltli. sac. 44°; 12lh, sac. 41i°; ISili, 

 sac. 38J° ; 14th, eac. 331°; 15lh, sac. 25°. Pat the liquor into 

 the b^^l^la in the cellar. July 18ih, sac. 18°. 



July 28i.h, sac. 14°. Eacked-ofl the wine and rinsed-out the 

 gronvidh ; sulphured the barrels to check the fermentation, re- 

 turned the wine into the ctrtks.iand stirred in finings. 



August .Ird, fac. 121° ; & h, she. 12°. 



October 5tb, sac. 10.1°. Ricked again, and rinsed grounds 

 from casks. No sulphuring nor finings this time. 



November ISih, eac. 10°. Plain-racked again. Wine be- 

 coming very fine, and feriuentfttion quite ceased. Put a piece 

 of canvas over the bunghole, and knocked down the bung and 

 vent-peg sir-light. 



Marcli 11th, 1860. Bottled the wine, sac. 10°. 



May2Ci.b. " Cracked" a bottio of it before writing this. It 

 is alreaiiy sparkling and bnautifally bright. This wine is 

 greatly improved by being kepli a year in bottle, and is what I 

 consider at its best at two yeaira of age ; nevertheless I have 

 wines of this description buttled in 1857 and successive years, 

 and they would puzzle sume very good judges. 



It seema that in my hurry to proceed, I have neglected to 

 mention how to place the oafk in the cellar, and for the con- 

 venience of lackicgoff I advise the boxwood tap to be first 

 driven into the ca^k, to set the latter on the skeleton tram, 

 and secure it firmly by means of wooden wedges, with ita 

 bnnghole leaning slightly to one side, in order to allow of 

 the scum running down into a milk pan placed under the tram. 

 At this stage the neceseity of the spare gallon of liquor will 

 be evident from the constiiut filling-up which the bariel will 

 require as fomentation goes on. 



It must now be determiued whether the wine is to be drawn 

 from the cask and drunk as a still wine, or bottled in March 

 to become an effervetciog beverage. In the latter case the 

 saceharometer must never be neglected ; constantly prove the 

 gravity by dipping the instrument in the liquor at the bunghole, 

 and when the indication is 14° place the working-pan under the 

 tap, and draw off the liquor, gently tilting the barrel when it 

 begins to run slowly, so aa leave the thickest of the sediment 

 behind. The latter should be turned into a milk pan, and the 

 cask rinsed out with a little of the wine (never use water for 

 the purpose), then sulphur the cask thus : — Tarn the barrel 

 bnngholo downwards, and fix it in tbat posiion ; then on the 

 end of an old iron spoon place a good pinch of flowers of sulphur, 

 set light to it with a candle, place the lighted sulphur at the 

 bunghoie, and allow the fumes to enter the barrel till combus- 

 tion ceases. After doing tlji.i, instantly replace the cask firmly 

 andievrl i^n the tram, enter the wine into it, and the sulr)hurous 

 acid which the cai-k oontains will check fermentation, aided by 

 the finings wiiieh aie Bon to be etirted into the liquor. To 



make the finings a day or so previously to their being required 

 for use, put a quarter of an ounce of isinglass in about half a 

 pint of the wine, the older the wine the better, but new wine 

 will do. Stir the liquid occasionally till the isiuglass is found 

 to be quite dissolved, then add a pint more wine to it, mix 

 well, and quietly pour it in at the bunghole from a spouted jng 

 with one hand, and with the other keep gently stirring half- 

 way down the barrel with a lath. A piece of brown paper 

 may now be pasted over the bunghole with the wine's own 

 yeast, or the bung may bo put in slightly, but leave out the 

 vent-peg, and in all probability fermentation will now nearly 

 it not quite cease. Continue to prove the wine by the sac- 

 eharometer, as mentioned in the digest, and if it still work, 

 persevere in racking it, and it may be fined with isinglasa 

 once more, though not sulphured ; but should attenuation go 

 below 10°, dissolve a little loaf sugar in the liquor to keep it 

 up to that mark. Aa soon as the settlings in the milk pans 

 from the rnokinga have fined themselves down, run off the 

 clear liquid into the gallon stone bottle, or, if there is room 

 for it, enter it into the cask with the rest, and throw the resi- 

 duum on the manure heap, or give it to the Bosea, which will 

 relish it much, and produce blossoms as big as breakfast 

 saucers. 



I will describe the bottling in due time ; but as regards the 

 honey, 1 may state that if it is of bad colour, or otherwise 

 foul from being taken out of the body of an old hive, instead 

 of being virgin honey taken from a glass super, the mode o£ 

 preparation which I adopt before adding it to the liquor is to 

 put a quarter of a pound of water to every quarter of a pound 

 of honey in a stewpan over a bright fire, gently simmer it for 

 twenty minutes, skimming ofi the scum as it riaes, and then 

 allow the clarified honey to become corjl. 



By scientific men, Thompson'M sHccharoracter would in all 

 probability be the expensive inalrumtnt u:!ed to ascertain the 

 speiific gravity, therefore we must be careful to multiply the 

 degrees on our simpler infltrumeot by 5 — viz., 44° multiplied 

 by 5 will be 220° on the scale of Thompson's instrument. — 

 Upwabdb akd Onwaeds. 



(To be continned.) 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



Cereus LiviDtrs (Livid Cerens). Nat. ord.. CactacPEB. Liim., 

 Icosandria Mouogynia. — This is a columnar Cactus, 12 feet high, 

 and from 4 to 6 inches in diameter. Flowers white, 10 iuohes 

 in diameter. Native of Brazil, La Guajra, and Cura90a. — 

 {Bot Mag., t. 5775 ) 



Crocos oEPHiNiDis (Professor Orphanides' Crocus). Nat. 

 ord , Iridaceas. Linn., Triandria Monogynia. — Very beantifol, 

 native of Greece. Flowers more than 2 inches in diameter, 

 lilac blue, unveiued, throat yellow. They blnssomid in a cool 

 frame at Kow during November. — {Ibid , t. 5776 ) 



PiiLiEGONiUM ScHOTTii (Dr. Seliott'a Pelargonium). Nat. 

 ord., Geraniacta;. Liim., Monadelphia. Decandria. — A garden 

 hybrid, nearly allied to P. cliirrophyllum, which had for its 

 parent P. fulgidnm, fertilised by the pollen of P. sanguinevm. 

 Flowers crimson, with an elongated black blotch on each petal. 

 —{Ibid , t. 5777.) 



UnoNTooLossnu Kraheiii (Kramer's Odnntoglot). Nat. ord., 

 Orchidaceas. Linn , G.vnandria Monandri*. — Native of Costa 

 Rioa. Introduced by Messrs. Veitch & Sona. " Like its con- 

 geners, it flourishes under cool treatment." Flowera freely and 

 enduringly, and ia exquiaitely delicate in the purple tints on 

 ita otherwise white flowers. — {Ibid., t. 5778.) 



Plomeria. ldtea (Yellow Plumi^riu). Nat. ord., Apocynaoeas. 

 Linn , Pentandria Monogynia. — Native of Peru. A fine branch- 

 ing 7- feet-high plant, flowering abumiantly in June in the Kew 

 Palm house. Flowera 4 inches in diameter, aweet-fcented, 

 very pale pink, yellow at the ba.^e of the petals.' — (Ibid., t. 5779.) 



Gladiolus cruentus (Blood-coloured Gladiolus). Nat. ord., 

 IriilacKB. Linn., Triandria Monogynia — "A very beautiful 

 and entirely novel species. It was received from Natal by Mr. 

 Bull, of Chelsea, with whom it flowered during the past sum- 

 mer. It ia not only a very Hhi)vvy plant, but also one of a very 

 distinct character, and wo believe it will be welcomed as a 

 grand acquisition for the flower garden, on account of its vigor- 

 ous babit of growth, and ita large bnlliantlj-coloured flowers. 

 I', will, probably, be also of great value to the hybridiaer, and 

 may be expected to impart some njvelty of feature to the 

 popular varieties of thia favourite flower. As a speoies it it 



