THE ART OP WINE MAKING. 221 



fruit seldom arrives at maturity in our climate, 

 and is familiarly known under the appellation of 

 the verjuice, (verjus) no other use being made of 

 it than to express the juice, before the fruit has 

 changed colour, to be used as vinegar for culi- 

 nary purposes. The fruit which I selected for 

 my second experiment had scarcely given the 

 least indication of a change of colour, and from a 

 belief that 1 the season was so far advanced as to 

 afford no hope that it would ripen, had it been 

 left ungathered on the vine. It was yet so hard 

 that I placed a portion of the fruit in a vessel 

 on the fire, in order so to soften it as to extract 

 from it a greater quantity of juice, of which it 

 yielded eight or nine pints, the character of 

 which was that of extreme acidity, in which, 

 however, in tasting, was detected an indication 

 of the presence of a slight portion of sugar. I 

 dissolved in this juice as much of brown sugar 

 as gave it the necessary sweetness. It appeared 

 requisite to add a larger portion than that applied 

 to the juice of the former experiment, because 

 the acidity of the latter must was greater and 

 more strongly marked. After the dissolving of 

 the sugar, the flavour of the liquor, though suffi- 

 ciently indicating the effect of the sugar, afforded 

 but little hope as to the result, because the sweet 

 and the bitter were so strongly characteristic of 

 the mixture, that the flavour was harsh and un- 

 pleasant. 



I placed this must in an earthern vessel, which 



was not entirely filled, covered by a clean linen 



napkin, and as the season had advanced, and the 



weather was chill and raw, it was placed in a 



T 2 



