72 THE INVISIBLE WORLD 



ture microbe. They then multiply with great 

 rapidity by Budding and occupy every drop of the 

 liquid. In subsisting on the sugar of the grapes, 

 by their life processes the microbes convert this 

 sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This is 

 the fermenting process, and is caused alone by the 

 microbe. To complete it, with the liquid at a 

 temperature of 60 degrees, requires about ten days. 

 The wine is then clarified and put into casks or 

 bottled. In either case, it is sealed air tight. 

 After a proper length of time for ripening, the 

 wine is fit for use. 



Evidently this microbe, like the microbe of beer, 

 only in a different way, has been for many genera- 

 tions in a state of culture. Originally, when men 

 first began to make wine, this microbe must have 

 been wild, and have come into the grape juice from 

 the atmosphere. But as the industry increased 

 and became general, the microbes would inhabit 

 more and more the vineyards. Their spores are 

 found not only on the ripe berries but also on the 

 leaves and vines. The leaves fall, and the spores 

 live in the soil until the next season. Then, in 

 cultivating the soil, they rise on particles of dust, 

 and thus find their way again to the leaves of the 

 vines and the ripening berries. With this process 

 continued from year to year, it must afford, in 

 some degree, culture. The more culture, the bet- 

 ter the work done, and the more choice become the 

 qualities of the wine. 



