154 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWIlira 



temperature should not vary much during fermenta- 

 tion, and that the first fermentation on the husks, and 

 for the first week following, should be rapid and unin- 

 terrupted. If the wine goes into the next summer fully 

 fermented and finished, clear and limpid, there is little 

 danger of its becoming cloudy and diseased afterwards, 

 even if it must be kept in a changeable temperature. 



AFTER TREATMENT OP THE WINE. 



Even if the wine was perfectly clear when drawn off, 

 in February and March, when it should be racked for the 

 second time, it will go through a second fermentation, 

 however slight this may be, as soon as warm weather 

 sets in, say in June and July. The clearer and better 

 developed the wine was when last racked, the slighter 

 this will be, for only the lees yet remaining in it which 

 the young wine has not entirely deposited will act as the 

 ferment. It is not safe or judicious, therefore, to bottle 

 the wine before this second fermentation is over. As 

 soon as the wine has become perfectly quiet and clear 

 again, generally about September, it can be bottled, or 

 sold by the cask. For bottling wine we need : 1st. 

 Clean bottles. 2d. Good corks, which must be scalded 

 with hot water firsfc, to draw out all impurities, and 

 soften them, and then be soaked in cold water. 3d. A 

 small funnel. 4th. A small faucet. 5th. A light, 

 wooden mallet to drive in the corks. 



After the faucet has been inserted in the cask, fill your 

 bottles so that there will be about an inch of room be- 

 tween the cork and the wine. Let them stand a few 

 minutes before you drive in the cork, which should be of 

 full size, and made to fit by compressing at one end. 

 Then drive in the cork with the mallet, and lay the 

 bottles, either in sand on the cellar floor, or on a rack 

 made for that purpose. They should be so laid that the 

 win^ covers the cork, to exclude all air. The greater bulk 



