SEPT.] THE VINEYARD. 515 



countries make use of the following expedient, viz : To a leather 

 pipe from four to six feet in length and two inches in diameter are 

 adapted, at each end, wooden pipes nine or ten inches in length, 

 which decrease in diameter towards the ends, and are fastened to the 

 leather pipes by means of a piece of twine. The bung of the cask 

 intended to be filled is taken out and one of the pipes put into it. 

 A good cock is fixed in the cask to be emptied, two or three inches 

 from the bottom, and in this is inserted the extremity of the other 

 pipe. A pair of bellows of two feet long, including the handles, and 

 ten inches in diameter, with a wooden pipe, to the extremity of which 

 is fixed a small leather valve to prevent the air from rushing out when 

 the bellows are opened, is introduced through a hole made in the bung 

 and fitted exactly thereto. When the bellows are worked, the pres- 

 sure exercised on the wine obliges it to issue from the cask and to 

 ascend and pass through the leather pipe into the other cask. When 

 the pipe is once filled, the wine will pass through without the appli- 

 cation of any further force till each cask is half full ; but then by 

 working the bellows the artificial pressure of the air on the surface 

 of the wine will oblige the remainder to pass off, without any agita- 

 tion or shaking. When a hissing is heard at the cock, it is a sign 

 that all the wine has passed. This operation may be performed in 

 another manner, without the assistance of a cock, by making one of 

 the wooden pipes so long as to reach within five or six inches of the 

 bottom, and introducing it through the bung, together with the pipe 

 of the bellows, which when worked, will force up the liquor as before. 



CLARIFICATION OF WINES. 



When wines have been racked off three or four times, in the pre- 

 ceding manner, they may be fined or clarified as follows : For white 

 wines, mix a quart of new milk and about an ounce of salt with two 

 or three quarts of wine and pour it into the cask; ; then with a strong 

 lath or flat stick, stir the wine in the cask very well, observing not 

 to put the stick to the bottom, lest you disturb the lees or sediment. 

 This will be sufficient for sixty-three gallons. 



Some for this purpose use a solution of isinglass, about the quantity 

 of an ounce to every fifty gallons of wine; but Chaptal observes, 

 " the use of this substance is dreaded in warm climates, and its place 

 is supplied by whites of eggs : ten or twelve are sufficient for half a 

 muid, or seventy two gallons English. They should be well beaten 

 up, and mixed with a pint of new milk." 



For a hogshead of red wine, beat up effectually the whites of ten 

 or twelve fresh eggs, and incorporate this well with three or four 

 quarts of wine, which pour into the cask, stirring it as above di- 

 rected. In five or six days after, the wines will be fit to draw off 

 for bottling, &c. 



METHODS OF CURING RAISINS. 



R. Twiss, Esq., says, in his Travels through Portugal and Spain, 

 page 834, "Raisins are of two sorts; those which are called sun- 



