474 



FARMERS' REGISTER— WINE MAKING. 



clom uniformly and as perfectly as the first; and 

 thia is, moreover, as stated above, at the expense 

 of the following years crop, and to the ii;jury of 

 the vine. If this be ever done lor the purpose of 

 obtaining a second crop of grapes, onl}' one branch, 

 or rather slioot, ought to be so treated, unless the 

 vine is large and very luxuriant, when two shoots 

 to eacli such a vine may be made thus to perform 

 a double task. I know that this operation of 

 ehortening the shoots is recommended by many 

 writers on the subject, and this with the view, as 

 they say, to throw more sap and nourishment into 

 the fruit. In this I believe they are mistaken; or, 

 if not, I am satisfied it will not answer a good pur- 

 pose in our climate and with our luxuriantly grow- 

 ing vines. It seems to me that the reasoning of 

 these writers is not correct; for, if plants take in 

 nourishment from the atmosphere by their leaves. 

 the suppression of a considerable part of the leaves 

 bearing shoots, must deprive ihe vine of a part of 

 its expected food; though, perhaps, the fruit may 

 be rendered thereby the richer in saccharine m.at- 

 ter, by subtracting from the luxuriance of the vine. 

 This may be the case, though my experience 

 Beems not favorable to such a conclusion; besides 

 the inconvenience of losing the buds of the next 

 year's crop. In order to ascertain, in some degree, 

 the effect of shortening the shoots on the fruit, and 

 to prevent the growing of the interleaves and 

 buds, I have several times operated as fljllows, on 

 fihoots which I intended to be cutoff at the follow- 

 ing pruning. Afler cutting off the shoot two or 

 three buds above the fruit, I carefully with a pen- 

 knife scooped out all the buds of the shoot, taking 

 care not to injure the principal leaves. The effect 

 on the fruit was so insignificant as not to be ob- 

 servable. The grapes rij)ened well, but were nei- 

 ther larger nor better than the others; indeed they 

 were rather smaller. 



On ivine making. 



Wine is the fermented juice of the grape; any 

 thing else, though it may be called by this name, 

 is not wine, but only an adulteration or an imita- 

 tion of it, which may be palatable, pleasant, and 

 perchance, wholesome. By fiir the greater part 

 of those liquors that are generally known by the 

 names of "home made wine," "manufactured 

 wine," &c., and even many that are sold as genu- 

 ine, are compounds which are frequently injurious 

 to health, and very seldom inoffensive as a usual 

 beverage. It has been observed that the people of 

 this country are more liable to dyspepsia, liver 

 complaints, and other diseases of a similar nature, 

 and that the frequent use of ardent spirits, even 

 in a very diluted state, or disguised under the form 

 of various wines, is the chief, if not the only cause 

 of it. A taste for strong wines has, unfortunately 

 for us, been produced, probably by the first import- 

 ers of wines across the ocean, who, ftiaring lest it 

 should not resist the eflect of so long a voyage, 

 thought of securing it by adding to it a quantity of 

 brandy; and a wine which is not strong enough, 

 when drank in a very moderate quantity, to pro- 

 duce something like an incipient state of intoxica- 

 tion, has been rejected as trash, and a decided pre- 

 ference given to such as had a powerful eflect. 

 Really good and genuine wme is among the best 

 of the numerous blessings that a kind )irovidence 

 hae bestowed on man, to assist him in supporting 



the many vicissitudes to which he is exposed; and. 

 without it, this would truly be "a valley of tears.' 

 But like most other valuable gilts, it has been 

 abused, and what was intended to induce good 

 and social feelings between man and man, to pro- 

 duce cheerfulness and a becoming hilarity, tem- 

 perance and health, has been converted into an 

 engine of mischiefj ill-temper and disease. 



It is very difficult to counteract habits and opin- 

 ions of long standing, even when they are admit- 

 ted to be founded on error, and very injurious. We 

 cannot, thorefbre, expect to gain an unqualified 

 assent to the propositions here above enounced, or 

 that implicit submission will be yielded to them. 

 Believing firmly as I do, that the promulgation of 

 them, and the offering as a proof of the assertions 

 here made, an opi)orfunity of giving them a full 

 trial, I conceive it my duty to exert ni}' feeble ef- 

 foiis to induce the real j^hilanthropists of thiscoun- 

 tr}^, to make a full trial of cultivating the vine, and 

 of making wine which they will know to be una- 

 dulterated; satisfied that good genuine wine, like 

 virtue, need only to be truly known to be truly 

 loved. 



The methods of making wine in various parts 

 of the Avorld are as diversified as the culture of 

 the vine itself. They are founded, however, on 

 general principles which must be understood be- 

 fore success can reasonably be expected. It is 

 needless here to give an elaborate analysis of 

 wine. It is sufficient to say that grapes being fill- 

 ly ripe, contain, besides other ingredients necessa- 

 ry to produce fermentation, a quantity of" sugar, 

 which the process of fermentation disposes to be 

 converted into alcohol, which may be obtained 

 li-om it by the process of distillation. The unfer- 

 mented juice of the grape, which is called "must," 

 is very sweet; but when it has become wine by 

 fermentation, scarcely any remnant of a sugary 

 taste is perceptible. It has then become fit for 

 use, being nutritive, stomachic, and exhilarating, 

 according to the proportion of the sugar it origin- 

 ally contained, and the perfection of the ferment- 

 ing process. Fermentation goes on, though in- 

 sensibly, for a long time, even for years, when the 

 liquor becomes more perfect, more mellow and 

 pleasant: in short it becomes good old wine. 



Before one proceeds to the gathering of the 

 grapes, every implement used, vats, press, casks, 

 &c. must have been prepared before hand with 

 the utmost care. Great nicety and perfect clean- 

 liness, are of the utmost importance; for there is 

 perhaps nothing that takes so readily the taste of 

 substances with which it comes into contact as 

 wine. Every vessel, then, that is to contain it in 

 any stage of the process must be properly cleansed, 

 and if new casks are used, great care must be had 

 that they have been well charred inside, and puri- 

 fied by repeated washings with water, common 

 salt, and lime or ashes. Some recommend a de- 

 coction of grapevine leaves poured hot into the 

 casks, and afterwards well rinsed with pure water, 

 and well drained. If the casks have contained 

 wine, one of the heads is to be taken out, and the 

 inside will be found incrusted with tartar which 

 must be scra{)ed out, and then it is to be cleansed 

 as abo\-e stated, for the new ones, except that they 

 need no charring, nor long soaking to extract the 

 taste and coloring matter of the wood, as new ves- 

 sels do. I have generally' found that vessels that 

 have contained French brandy, particularly that 



