REPORT OP COMMITTEE ox PUBLICATION 303 



A NEW UTILIZATION OF A BY-PRODUCT OF 

 THE GRAPE. 



By GUIDO ROSSATI. 

 Enotecnico Governativo Italiano at New York, N. Y. 



It is a fact, often recurring in industrial enterprises working on a narrow 

 margin, either because of competition or of other factors, that the manu- 

 facturer depends for his profit more from the by-products than from the 

 primary product itself of his industry. The meat packers of Chicago, of 

 whom it is proverbially said that they utilize everything of the hog except 

 the squeal, afford, perhaps, one of the most striking examples of thorough 

 utilization of such valuable material as they operate with. 



The wine industry, with which I am concerned for my subject, is 

 fortunately one of those that, notwithstanding the inevitable great variability 

 of cost of its staple product, depending chiefly on the outcome of the crop, 

 maintains in comparison with other agricultural industries, fairly satisfactory 

 returns on the basis of its main product, viz., wine, provided vinification is 

 accomplished by rational methods, so as to insure a sound article, of standard 

 quality. 



Yet it must be recognized that, where wine making is carried on on an 

 important scale, a rational utilization of the by-products of the grape can 

 add considerably to the balance sheet of the wine maker. And when it is 

 considered that, in this case, with the economic welfare of the wine maker 

 is concerned to a certain extent that of other industries, such as the tar- 

 taric, for which the grape is as yet the only source of supply of the necessary 

 prime material, while the consumption of tartaric products is constantly 

 developing, it is apparent how desirable it is that of the precious ampelidae 

 nothing should go to waste, or to less remunerative forms of utilization than 

 modern ingenuity can suggest or devise. 



It is not within the province of my subject to treat either of the distilla- 

 tion of grape and wine residues, for the production of alcohol or brandy, or 

 of the extraction of cream of tartar, or tartaric acid, from the pomace and 

 wine lees, neither of the manufacture of oil and tannic acid from the grape 

 seeds, nor of the preparation of feed cake for cattle from the grape pomace, 

 etc., which are the usual forms of utilization of the re^iuues of vinification. 

 Each of these lines of industrial exploitation would require Tiore space and 

 time than is possible to give within the limt of a short paper, like this, in 

 order to be either adequately treated, or even only fairly touched upon. 



I shall, therefore, confine myself to a suggestion in connection with the 

 utilization of one of the by-products of the grape, that seems to be feasible, 

 and upon which, so far as I am aware, no one before has called the attention 

 of the wine makers. I mean the utilization of grape stems in the manu- 

 facture of paper. 



The grape stem is essentially a fibrous material, containing, when green, 

 about 20 per cent of fiber, and when dry, about 40, while its branching con- 

 formation and wiry consistency, sharing in this particular the character of 



