THE ART OF WINE MAKING. 215 



order to a proper admixture of the different prin- 

 ciples in suspension, until an uniform heat be 

 established. A practice in Champaigne is, to 

 suspend by an elastic shaft, or by a simple beam, 

 balanced over the fermenting vessel, a long pole, 

 or sapling, terminated by a block of two feet 

 square. This is plunged successively, and at in- 

 tervals, into the vessel which contains the mass, 

 causing an agitation through the whole by such 

 movement, till the object be now accomplished. 

 Some vintners prefer their workmen to enter 

 the tub, shod with wooden shoes, to break up 

 the mash by actively moving among it, and thus 

 promoting the fermentation, by disengaging the 

 gas, which cannot escape from the confinement 

 in which it is thus suspended. Dom Gentil, 

 quoted by Mr. Chaptal, has made on this sub- 

 ject several interesting experiments; and his 

 theory is, that that the method here prescribed 

 has a tendency to render the fermentation more 

 prompt, imparting to the wine a delicate flavour, 

 a deeper hue, and a generous character, which 

 otherwise it would not attain. On the contrary, 

 it is contended by Mr. Dandolo, that the repeti- 

 tion of the crushing is injurious. From. a series 

 of facts elicited by careful experiment, he is con- 

 vinced that an unfavourable influence is exercised 

 on the results of the wine making, by replunging 

 into the centre of the mash the various articles 

 accumulated on the surface, which have under- 

 gone an entire change, by the action to which 

 they have been submitted, and that the bonnet 

 thus again submerged, composed as it is of 

 various articles, possesses new principles, which, 



