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of the time. After sagem off the remaining undissolved pomace, it is pressed 
and made into a wine of inferior quality. [t is commonin France, and it would 
be sometimes necessary in some parts of America to provide means of warming 
the wine-house up to at least 20 degrees of “Centigrade” or Fahrenheit, as 
well as to introduce steam heat into the vats themselves, which is done. by 
means of a tin pipe, entering to the right of the faucet and a little above the 
bottom of the vat, bending to the bottom and rising again in the form of a letter 
U, and then passing out at the other side of the faucet, at the same distance 
from it, the steam entering at one end and the condensed vapor escaping at the 
other; but heat is only applied in cold seasons and when the grapes are badly 
ripened. ; 
In France, the fruit of different varieties are commonly. mixed together, and 
generally but little account is taken of “cesaye” (variety) as compared with 
the quality of soil. Well-informed persons, however, are disposed to complain 
of the introduction, which has been quite general of recent years, of coarse 
varieties grown for quantity rather than quality. 
There is one variety of vine commonly seen on rich soil and deemed unfit 
for poor ground, except where grown for brandy, as in Cognac, that may pos- 
sibly be of value to us. It is called “la folle,” (the crazy;) “en ragatt, ’ (from 
enraged.) Except in its infancy it needs no stakes, but holds itself erect by 
the strength of its stalk, which is trained about one foot high, and from which 
the cane or branches shoot out with great vigor, like those of the osier willow 
pruned low. Every winter all the branches are cut back to two or three eyes, 
and during the season the ground is cultivated in the usual manner, but further 
than this it demands no attention. There is no summer pruning nor any tying, 
winter or summer It is never hurt by frost, is proof against all disease, and 
is unfailing in its fruiting, and yields, when in good condition, 12 to 15 gallons 
of wine per acre. Its most favorable soil is a sandy loam, and when grown on 
such its wine, which is quite strong, is worth 40 cents per gallon. Of that 
produced about Bordeaux a good deal is mixed with coarse red wine and made 
into claret for American consumption. Of itself it will not make red wine. It 
is possible that this hardy vine or grape will stand our severe winters, and, with 
or without winter covering, obtain a footing in American soil. If so, every 
farmer or whoever else can command a quarter of an acre of land might raise 
for his own table an abundanee of good sound wine at a trifling cost. Gener- 
ally it is a bad policy to introduce a coarse plant of any sort, but we have so 
vast a spread of land that is too rich for growing delicate wines, no matter 
. what variety of plant is tried, and of late the mildew and rot have been so dis- 
couragingly fatal in many parts of our country, it might be well to give the ‘“‘en 
ragatt’’ a trial; and, since we wust drink the juice baptized with the names of 
«St. Julian,” “Chatteur,” “Margeaux,” and all the saints of Medoc, we may as 
well enjoy the satisfaction and the very large profit of raising it ourselves. 
Not only do the French mix different kinds of grapes in the vat and on the 
press, but they freely compound together different kinds of wine in every stage 
of maturity. This is done of course with great carefulaess, and the success of 
the merchant in his business depending on his skill in concocting what will 
please the palate. Such combination may be agreeable to the taste of the con- 
sumer, and profitable to the merchant, but it may well be doubted if it is as 
good for the health as that which is simply natural, and made from one variety 
of grape. 
A French wine-grower has introduced the Catawba into his vineyard, and 
uses its juice to mix in very small proportions with that of native grapes to give 
flavor. Any considerable addition of the Catawba’s musky quality would be 
more than the French palate, trained to like only that which is negative, could 
very well bear. 
When American wines were tested by the jury at the Exposition, the French 
