THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



9 



"Fill the honey"d bevoragf high, 

 Fil the skulls' 'ti> OdJQ k cry! 

 HpiikI ye not I he poweit'ul call, 

 Thiuiili'iiuir Ihioueh the vaull'd hallf 

 Fill the niealh and spread the board, 

 Vassals of the grisly lord ! — 

 Tlie Feast begins, the skull goes round, 

 Laughter shouts — the shouts resouud !'* 



Hence, likewise iu an ode by Mr. Stirling, 

 we find the I'ollowing illuslralion of the norlh- 

 eru Elysium. 



"Thoir banquet is the ra'ghty chine 

 Exliaustless, the stupendous boar ; 

 Virgins of immortal line 



Present tlie goblet foaming o'er: 

 Of heroes' skulls the goblet made 

 ■With figured deaths and snakes of gold inlaid." 



Boar's flesh was considered by these tribes as 

 the highest delicacy ; the celestial boar was 

 bupposed to be daily renewed, and to afford aii 

 ample repast for the most numerous party : a 

 quantit}' of mead also, suflieient for the intoxi- 

 cation of this paradisiacal community, was im- 

 agined to be daily supplied by a goat called 

 Heidrunn 



"Whose spacious horn would fill the bowl 



That raised to rapture Odin's soul; 



And ever drinking, ever dry — 



StiU the copions stream supply."* 



I could not refrain from adducing these short 

 historical and poetical evidences of the high 

 estimation iu which mead was held by our 

 no t hern ancestors. I trust that I shall also 

 stand excused for still further lengthening my 

 preamble by entering upon the general princi- 

 pUx of wine-making. 



The grand dfsiderata in wine are strength, 

 flavor, and plea-iantness : — to accomplish the 

 first,- sugar must be converted by fermentation 

 into alcohol ; the second depends upon the ar- 

 ticle to be vinified, and upon the management 

 of the process of vinification ; flavor may like- 

 wise be produced artiflcially by different ad- 

 juncts: pleasantness will principally result 

 from the same causes, but more especially from 

 the liquor holding in solution a certain quan- 

 tity of unconverted sugar. 



The elements rieces.tary to a due fermentation 

 and to bring the process to a satisfactory issue, 

 are sugar, extractive matter, acid of tartar and 

 water These exist iu the highest perfection 

 and in the best relative proportions in the grape: 

 hence the superiority of foreign wines. Who- 

 ever therefore expects to imitate with much ef- 

 fect, those generous liquors, must supply in the 

 process, those ingredients in which the article 

 sought to be converted into wine is deficient. 



If the native juices of fruits be deficient in 

 sugar, it will be impossible to convert them 

 into a strong wine without a proper supply of 

 that ingredient ; and Avithout a sufficiency of 

 extractive matter, which is the natural ferment, 

 a due fermentation could not be established; the 

 wine would be sweet but not potent ; sweet 

 wines being the produce of an incomplete fermen- 

 iu'ion. If the extractive matter were in excess, 

 the liquor would have a tendency to the acetous 

 fermentation, which might also be induced by 

 a superabundant proportion of water, 



♦Considering the moderately intoxicating power of mead, 

 it may be presumed that no inconsiderable quan:ity was re- 

 quired at these jovial banquets, as it is calculated to con- 

 tain only eeven parts of alcohol in a hundred. 



The result of a complete fermentation is ndnj 

 WHIP-, and to produce which, the elements must 

 be nicely balanced, and the process conducted 

 under favor..ble circumstances, with respect to 

 temperature, tunning, stopping down, .Jcc. 



Two opposite practices ijr.-vail, in the manu- 

 facture of the same sort of wine ; some wine- 

 makers boiling the juice before fermentation, 

 others conducting the whote process without boil- 

 ing The piopriety or impropriety of these 

 practices depends upon the quality of the juices 

 to be vinified. Extractive matter is partially 

 coagtdablc by heat ; boiling therefore, by caus- 

 ing this matter to separate and to be depos 

 ited, tends to the production of a sweet wine. 

 The extractive matter may also be precipitated 

 by sulphuric acid gas, (burning in the cask a 

 brimstone match as hereafter directed,) or by 

 sulphuric acid itself, with which the soluble 

 leaven tonus an insoluble compound. Hence 

 where the extractive matter is in excess, and 

 where there is danger of fermentation going on 

 too rapidly, boiling or sulphuring -will be useful 

 both to the wine and cider-maker, in checkmg 

 or preventing fermentation. The superfluous 

 extract thrown up in the course of fermenta- 

 tion as yeast, or deposited as lees, will, if re- 

 mixed with the liquor, have the effect of con- 

 tinuing the fermentatiou : lience the utility of 

 racking and fining, where it is in excess ; and 

 of reunion, where it is deficient. Artificial 

 leaven or yeast, which contains the extractive 

 principle iu great abundance, aflbrds a supply 

 to tho:,e juices which are deficient in it, and 

 without which they will not ferment. Natural 

 leavn, (i. e extractive matter) is soluble in cold 

 water, artificial leaven is not : during fermen- 

 tation, therclore, the latter is always thrown 

 off: so also is the greater part of the former, if 

 the process be well conducted. 



Most of the fruits of this country abound in 

 malic acid; those that possess only a moderate 

 quantity of it, however, afford excellent wine 

 with the addition of sugar only ; still better 

 wine may be obtained by the further addition 

 ot the acid of tartar. Where the malic acid 

 prevails so abuudauily as to make its neutrali- 

 zatiou desirable. Dr. M'Culloch, (to whom I 

 am indebted for much of the information con- 

 tained in this chapter,) recommends coating 

 the insides of the fermenting vats w4th a white 

 wash of caustic lime. I have neutralized the 

 malic acid, by putting into the cask, after the 

 sensible fermeutation has been completed, 

 about a pound -of egg shells to every sixty gal- 

 lons of wine. 



The acid of tartar increases the fermenting 

 power of fluids : half-ripe fruits possess it in 

 the greatest abundance ; hence the vivacity of 

 champagne and green gooseberry wine. It is 

 most conveniently used in the state of super- 

 tartrate of potash or common cream of tartar ; 

 the common rough tartar is in some respects 

 preferable, as its admixture of yeast assists in 

 perfecting the fermentation. 



All vegetables contain more or less of extra- 

 ctive matter ; those that possess little may be 

 assisted in their fermenlation by that process 

 being conducted in wooden vessels, wood sup- 



