222 THE ART OP WINE MAKING. 



chamber, the temperature of which was regulated 

 by a stove to the favourable point, and an equili- 

 brium maintained day and night of 12 to 15 de- 

 grees of Reamur, (from 62 to 64 of Fahrenheit). 

 I examined the must four days after, and found 

 that the fermentation was not yet sensible. The 

 liquor appeared to me equally sweet (sucree) and 

 equally sour,* but in a short time ^fter, an union 

 of these two qualities commenced, and when the 

 combination had become complete, the result 

 was a wine of an agreeable flavour. On the 

 14th November the fermentation was at its 

 height, and the mass in active movement. A 

 lighted candle* introduced into the vessel was 

 immediately extinguished. On the 30th the 

 sensible fermentation had subsided. A candle 

 introduced burned freely and with a clear flame. 

 The wine was not thick or muddled, but of a 



* A condition perfectly intelligible to the vintner, who un- 

 derstands from this technical description, though an apparent 

 contradiction, the state of the must existing in a separate form, 

 before the chemical union. 



Remarks by the Translator. Let not the American cultiva- 

 tor be misled by this deceptive tale of our author. His trea- 

 tise, although an excellent breviary of practical wine making, 

 should be read without reference to the visionary experiment 

 here cited, which must be regarded as theoretical, and calcu- 

 lated to mislead the inexperienced as to the necessity of an im- 

 portant feature of vine growing, that of ripening perfectly the 

 fruit of the vine, before it be submitted to the operations of the 

 wine press. 



I have frequently seen in Switzerland, the pressing of un- 

 ripe fruit, such as here described, and the wine was always in- 

 ferior, and scarcely worth the sugar necessary to the prepara- 

 tion. 



Do not let us be deceived on this point. Ripe fruit can 

 alone produce good wines. 



