AND WINE* MAKING. 179 



not also contain. They are, therefore, as pure as any 

 grape juice can be, with the consideration in their favor, 

 that they contain all the ingredients in their proper pro- 

 portion. 



It is a matter of course that careless and slovenly work- 

 ers have failed, and will continue to fail, in making good 

 wine by this, or any other method, but this cannot be 

 used as an argument against it. To make a good article 

 the peculiarities of each variety must be closely studied, 

 and we must not think that water and sugar will ac- 

 complish everything. Its use should be limited, and be- 

 comes abuse as soon as it oversteps that limit. 



But I will hope that I have contributed my mite to the 

 fund of universal knowledge, and if this little volume 

 only aids every farmer in the land, who can grow grapes, 

 to make a few barrels of pure, light wine for family use, 

 to take the place of poor whiskey and brandy, now the 

 bane and curse of so many households, I am more than 

 repaid for the labor of many a lonely early morning hour 

 it has cost me. Mine has been an incessantly busy life, 

 and the time for these scribblings has been stolen mostly 

 from the "small, still hours." I know of no holidays, 

 and have often had to force exhausted nature to the 

 task. This must be my excuse for its many imperfec- 

 tions. But I flatter myself that I am not entirely mis- 

 taken, when I think I send it on a temperance mission, 

 perhaps more true and, therefore, more effective than any 

 Murphy movement. I have always looked upon the gen- 

 eral use of pure, light wine as the best temperance mea- 

 sure that could be adopted. A glass of wine, used early 

 in the morning, I have found to be the best preventive 

 against malaria, and nothing revives the sinking energies 

 of the worn out laborer better during a hot summer day, 

 as I know from actual experience. I have known it to 

 save life in dangerous diseases, and could cite many in- 

 stances did time and space permit. 



