629 



VINCULUM. 



VINEYARD. 



630 



and defined, it was termed privileged villeinage, and sometimes villein- 

 socage. 



Villeinage is generally supposed to be the origin o copyhold tenure. 

 [COPYHOLD; ENFRANCHISEMENT.] 



VINCULUM, a name given in algebra to the line, brackets, paren- 

 theses, or other symbol, by which various terms are compounded into 

 one, or supposed to be o compounded, in order that the result may be 

 further operated on. Ai in 



a + b + c x , (a + b + c) x , {a + 4 + c} x , &c., 



which are, by the vinculum, prevented from being coufouuded with 

 a + 6 + ex. 



VINE. [VINEYARD.] 



VINEGAR, MEDICAL USE OF. [ACETIC ACID.] 



VINEGAK-MAKING. Vinegar is a dilute acetic acid obtained by 

 the vinous fermentation. [FERMENTATION.] In countries which pro- 

 duce wine, vinegar, as its name imports, is obtained from the acetous 

 fermentation of wine ; but in this country it is usually procured from 

 malt, and the process employed resembles the first stage of the brewer's 

 operations. -[BREWING.] The malt is ground and mashed with hot 

 water. The wort, after being cooled, is transferred to the fermenting 

 tun, where, by the addition of yeast, it undergoes the acetous fermenta- 

 tion ; and when this is over, the liquor is transferred to small vessels, 

 which are kept warm by means of a stove : in this it remains for a 

 shorter or longer period, according to the temperature of the stove and 

 the strength of the liquor. The process of acetification is assisted by 

 introducing into the casks with the wort what is called rape, the 

 residuary fruit which has served for making domestic wines, or has 

 been preserved by the vinegar-maker from one process to another in 

 his own factory. The use of the rape is to act as an acetous ferment, 

 and thus induce sourness in the wash, it being well impregnated with 

 vinegar and continually kept sour. Acetification is sometimes carried 

 on by transferring the wort, after it has undergone the vinous fer- 

 mentation, into casks, the buogholes of which are left open and loosely 

 covered with tiles ; the casks are then exposed for a long time to the 

 air. But the use of stoves has greatly superseded this mode, and haa 

 abridged the time of the operation and rendered it less liable to failure. 

 The vinegar, after it has reached its greatest degree of sourness, is 

 rendered clear and fit for use either by subsidence or the employment 

 of isinglass. The manufacturer is allowed by act of parliament to mix 

 lubu f ' ts weight of sulphuric acid with vinegar ; and what is termed 

 by the Excise proof vinegar contains 5 per cent, of real acetic acid. 



Vinegar may be prepared in small quantities from the fermentation 

 of a solution of sugar mixed with yeast ; or it may be obtained by the 

 fermentation of various fruits : thus, the juice of good apples contains 

 a sufficiency of sugar to afford tolerably good vinegar without any 

 addition. 



In France, vinegar is made from poor wine, and there are two kinds : 

 the white, prepared from white wine ; and the red, by the acetincatiuu 

 of the red wine. These are finer flavoured and somewhat stronger 

 than the malt-vinegar of this country. 



Vinegar-works in this country are but few in number ; they require 

 a large amount of space and tiie investment of much capital. There 

 are about half-a-dozen of them in the metropolis. At moat of those in 

 this country, ax has been said, malt is the kind of grain employed ; 

 but the vinegar-maker holds himself free to the use of unmalted grain, 

 if price and other circumstances should render it desirable, or saccha- 

 rine substances instead of grain. From whatever substances the yyle 

 is produced, the conversion of it into vinegar is managed nearly in the 

 same way. Where the rape is not to be procured easily, the vinegar- 

 maker uses wood-shavings, straw, or even tanners' spent bark; but 

 the rape is so far preferable, that a large expenditure is sometimes 

 incurred to obtain a sufficient quantity : hence the advantage of carry- 

 ing on the " British wine " manufacture and the vinegar manufacture 

 in the same establishment (which is sometimes done) ; refuse raisin- 

 stalks and skins result from the making of raisin-wine. Vinegar is 

 known by certain numbers, such as Nos. 18, 20, 22, and 24 ; these 

 originally represented, it is supposed, the number of pence per gallon 

 at which the vinegar was sold ; and although the price no longer 

 agrees with the numbers, they have been retained as designation* for 

 different kinds or strengths of vinegar. The quantity made in the 

 United Kingdom is not now known; some years ago it was about 

 3,000,000 gallons annually. 



It may be well to remark that, in country districts, much vinegar, 

 but of inferior quality and insipid flavour, is made by the aid of the 

 singular substance known as the vineyar-plant. This substance in 

 rather a scum than a plant. In Staffordshire, a vinegar-plant is thus 

 produced : About a quarter of a pound of sugar and half a pound of 

 treacle are put into three quarts of water ; the solution is simmered, 

 poured into a jar, covered up, and kept in a warm corner for six weeks : 

 an inferior kind of vinegar is formed, and on the top of it is a scum, with 

 very much the appearance of tripe constituting the so-called vinegar- 

 plant. Vinegar can thus be made from a sweet liquor alone ; but 

 when a vinegar-plant is once produced, it greatly quickens the process 

 of vinegar-making, without materially altering the proportions of the 

 other ingredient*. A gallon of vinegar is thus made at a coat of about 

 sixpence. During the process the vinegar-plant thickens, by the 

 formation of a new layer on the under surface ; the two layers may 



easily be separated, and each will be available for a further process of 

 vinegar-making, and this three or four times over. The substance is a 

 kind of fungus, whitish in colour, semi-transparent, jelly-like, and 

 sometimes an inch in thickness. In some country places strong 

 pickling vinegar is made by cottagers, by mixing cowslip flowers and 

 stalks with sugar and water, adding a little yeast, closing it up, and 

 allowing it to remain in a warm place for several weeks. 



VINEYARD. The vine only thrives in particular climates, where 

 the autumns are not excessively hot, nor the springs subject to late 

 frosts. It has been observed in France, that the line which marks the 

 northern boundary of the vineyards is not parallel to any circle of 

 latitude ; but that it lies obliquely, advancing more to the north on 

 the eastern boundary of the country than on the western. It seems 

 to depend more on the nature of the climate in spring and autumn, 

 than in summer and winter. A hard frost at the time the eap is 

 quiescent haa no bad effect on the vine, but rather the contrary ; while 

 a late frost iu spring disappoints all the hopes of the vine-grower. 

 There was a time when the vine was cultivated in England for the 

 purpose of making wine ; but whether the climate is altered, or the 

 foreign wines have superseded the sour home-made wines, no one now 

 attempts to cultivate the vine except for the purpose of obtaining 

 grapes for the table, and the mode of cultivation is a branch of horti- 

 culture. 



It may however be interesting to know how the vine is cultivated iu 

 the countries which produce good wine ; of which France is one of the 

 principal and nearest in climate to England. The vine grows best in 

 a soil where few other shrubs or plants would thrive, and it seems a 

 wise distribution of Providence, that where there is the best soil 'for 

 wine, there it is the worst for wheat, and rice i-end. The vine delights 

 in a deep loose rocky soil, where its roots can penetrate deep into 

 fissures, so as to insure a supply of moisture when the surface is 

 scorched by the sun's rays. On the steep elopes of hills towards the 

 south and sheltered from the north-east, the gi apes attain the greatest 

 maturity, and the vintage is most certain. So great an influence has a 

 favourable exposure, that iu the same vineyard the greatest difference 

 exists between the wine made from one part and that made from 

 another, merely because there is a turn round the hill, and the aspect 

 varies a very few degrees. A change of soil produces a similar effect. 

 The famous Rhine wine called Johanuisberg, when made from the 

 grapes which grow near the castle, is worth twice as much as that 

 made a few hundred yards farther off. Here both soil and aspect 

 change. The Clos de Vougeau, which produces the finest Burgundy, 

 is confined to a few acres ; beyond a certain wall the wine is a common 

 Burgundy, good, but without extraordinary merit. 



The best vineyards in Europe formerly belonged to monasteries, and 

 the quality was then thought of more importance than the quantity : 

 of late the demands of commerce have made the quantity the principal 

 object; and to this the quality is frequently sacrificed. 



When a vine is first established on any spot where none grew before, 

 the first thing is to prepare the ground for planting. In steep places, 

 where the soil might be carried away by rains in winter or spring, 

 terraces are formed by building massive stone walls along the slope, 

 and levelling the soil behind them. The walls serve to reflect the heat, 

 and form a shelter to the vine below. Thus a whole hill is sometimes 

 covered with terraces from top to bottom, and there the wine is gene- 

 rally good, if the exposure be favourable. Limestone, gravel, or coarse 

 sand, with a small mixture of clay, forms a good soil for a vine ; vege- 

 table substances alone should be used to enrich it, such as the leaves 

 and tendrils of the vine, the residue of the grape when pressed, and, 

 failing these, the leaves of trees collected when green, and formed into 

 a compost with earth. The ground should he well trenched, if it will 

 admit of it, or loosened with the mattock and pickaxe. The different 

 parts of the soil should be intimately mixed, keeping some fine earth 

 or soil at top to set the plants in. When the ground is prepared, 

 holes are dug in rows four or five feet wide, at the same distance from 

 each other, so as to alternate ; some of the finest of the soil is put into 

 each hole, and the vine-plants, which have been rooted in a nursery, or 

 else simple cuttings, are carefully inserted, pressing the mould round 

 the roots and levelling the earth round them. Rooted plants will bear 

 the second or third year, but cuttings take a much longer time. The 

 season for planting is during the winter, when the weather is open. 

 If cuttings are used, they are taken off the vine on which they grew 

 at the usual time of pruning after the vintage; a piece of the pre- 

 ceding year's wood is left on the cutting, and when it is planted, the end 

 where the old wood is left is bent or twisted to facilitate its striking : 

 three or four eyes are buried, so that the end is a foot at least under 

 ground. If the plant is already rooted, care is taken not to wound or 

 bend the roots, but to spread them out and cover them with mould. 

 During all the time that the vine is growing, the ground must be 

 regularly cultivated and kept perfectly clear of all weeds. The usual 

 instrument of tillage in stony and rocky soils is a two-pronged fork 

 fixed in a short handle, at an angle less than a right angle with the 

 prongs, which are a foot long, and very strong, like a double pickaxe (see 

 figure, col. 631). This is struck into the ground and then drawn towards 

 the workman, while the handle is lifted, which acts as a lever in raising 

 the soil. The roots are by this means enabled to spread through the 

 soil in search of moisture and food. The next year it is usual to prune 

 the young vine down to one or at most two eyes or buds ; but some 



