SEPT.] THE VINEYARD. 509 



THE VINEYARD. 



PROTECTING THE FRUIT. 



Your early varieties of grapes will now be ripening very fast, and 

 will sometimes be subject to the annoyance of birds, which are more 

 apt to attack the fruit a little before sun rising and about the time of 

 its setting, than in any other part of the day ; it will be, therefore, 

 prudent to have boys with rattles to frighten them away, particularly 

 about those hours. 



You should also destroy poke, wild cherries, and any other uncul- 

 tivated productions growing near the vineyard, the fruit of which 

 might invite a resort of birds. Should you observe an extraordinary 

 resort of wasps in any quarter, and that they are destructive to the 

 fruit, hang up phials of honeyed or sugared water in such places, in 

 which numbers of them will be caught and destroyed. 



The ground between your vines must now be kept perfectly free 

 from weeds, and all the branches tied up neatly, in order to afford 

 the fruit the full advantage of air and sun for its due perfection. 



THE METHOD OP MAKING WHITE WINES. 



In the middle States, the general vintage will happen some time 

 in this month, earlier or later, according to the season; it will, there- 

 fore, be necessary to be provided with a sufficient number of clean, 

 sweet casks, new, if for white wines, to prevent their coloring the 

 liquor; but red wines may be put into any cask, without injury, pro- 

 vided they are sweet and clean. You must also be provided with a 

 vat for mashing the fruit in, and with a suitable contrivance for press- 

 ing out the juice. 



Let it be observed that white wines are made from black as well 

 as from white grapes ; that the former generally makes the strongest 

 and best wines, and that it is from the skin of the black grapes, when 

 fermented with the juice and pidp, that the red tinge is obtained. 



When you perceive the grapes to be fit for gathering, which you 

 may judge of by the eye and taste, for when perfectly fit for eating 

 they are then in the best condition for making wine ; make choice of 

 cloudy weather, if such should occur, and early in the morning, or 

 very late in the afternoon, being provided with a sufficient number of 

 careful people, each furnished with a basket to hold the fruit, and a 

 crooked pointed knife or a pair of strong scissors to cut off the bunches, 

 let them begin their work, collecting only such bunches as are open, 

 ripe, and perfectly sound, passing over all that are green, not ma- 

 tured, dry, rotten, or bursted. The stalk of every bunch should be 

 cut off close to the fruit, and the bunches laid gently into the basket 

 without bruising or pressing them together. 



The grapes which are not sufficiently ripe must be gathered at 

 another time, and treated in like manner. 



