230 THE ART OF WINE MAKING. 



may cause such mischief, withdrawn from the 

 cask. 



The wines of the hermitage are thus with- 

 drawn in the months of March and September ; 

 those of Champaigne, in October, February and 

 March. 



This operation, which is never performed but 

 during dry, cold weather, should be done by 

 means of a pump, employed in the wine houses 

 of many proprietors. 



This instrument is a leathern tube, terminated 

 by wooden pipes; one end of which is fitted to 

 the spicket of the cask to be discharged, the 

 other to the bung of that into which the wine is 

 to be transvased. The flowing of the liquid will 

 cease when half the mass has been withdrawn 

 from the vessel, but the discharge must be con- 

 tinued by means of the bellows. Through the 

 agency of this instrument, the pressure of the air 

 is brought to act on the wine as the head is les- 

 sened, and the liquid thus forced to pass through 

 the tijbe into the other cask. The transvasing 

 must not, however, be indiscriminate, or per- 

 formed at all seasons, without due attention to 

 circumstances familiar to the vintner. 



" It is well understood," says Mr. Parmentier, 

 a that the wines work in the cask, and rise, per- 

 haps, two inches, both in spring and autumn ; 

 and it is a few days before these periods that the 

 operation of transvasing should be performed. 

 The frequency of this necessary work varies ac- 

 cording to the different qualities of the wines. 

 Excess in these cases is as dangerous as a neg- 

 lect of the operation." 



