WINE MAKING, 



han-est And the busy scene is presented 

 us of visitors in the vineyards (the uninvited 

 having paid their entrance fee) plucking and 

 eating the beautiful, healthful fruit, and the 

 grape-gatherers collecting for wine or table use. 



Our grape gathering is in a very plain way — 

 though that of the Scuppemong is somewhat 

 peculiar. For gathering this kind, a large sheet 

 or piece of cloth, with poles fastened to each end 

 or t^'o sides, is held by a couple of hands 

 under any part of a canopy; and another, with 

 a forked stick, shakes the bi-anches above the 

 canopy, and all the ripe grapes fall aifd roll into 

 tlie middle of the cloth. Other kinds of grapes 

 are plucked off by hand, while the gatherers 

 stand on movable fixtures, to enable them to 

 reach the grapes hanging underneath high can- 

 opies, or on the highest parts of the treUises. 



The grapes are carried to the presses, where 

 all are arranged with a sti^ict regard to order 

 and cleanliness. First, all but the ripe and 

 soimd berries are separated, if necessary. Next, 

 they are passed through a machine for mashing 

 them, consisting of a frame placed on a vat or 

 half-hogshead, with t^o tamed rollers (and hop- 

 per above) so adjusted as to distance, as not to 

 break the seeds of the fruit. To one end of each 

 roller is a handle, by which t^\'o persons turn, 

 and a third feeding through the hopper, enough 

 grapes for 20 barrels of wine may be mashed 

 in a day. 



Grape gatliering commences here toward the 

 la-^t of July, and continues till October. 



From about twenty varieties only I make 

 wine as yet : though more than a hundred oth- 

 ers, bearing small qnantities. and different kinds 

 ripening in succession, gives me time to operate 

 in wine-making as an incidental employment. 



Four or five hands, large and small, can make 

 their barrel or more of w-ine a day. It is im- 

 portant for all the wine in one vessel to be made 

 of grapes gathered vNdthin the period of at most, 

 two days. The Scuppemong vine ripens its 

 berries in succession, and requires repeated 

 gatherings, therefore, by shaking, as before de- 

 ecribed, under the same vine or canopy. And, 

 in conseouence of Jiug ripening, we have its 



AS PRACTICED IN NORTH-CAROLDJ.V, BY REV. S. WELLER. 



Addressed to Doctor D. P. Gap-dixek, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Agricultoral 

 Association. Read at a meeting of the Association, and communicated for publication in the Farmers' 

 Library, at the request of the Editor. 



A PORTION" of the grapes on the trellises and I most delightful, healthy fruit commonly from 

 arbors being fully ripe, then comes tlie vintner's the first of August till the first of October. 



Some other kinds of vines ripen all their ber- 

 ries at one time; and there is, therefore, no 

 trouble in separating the green ones before 

 ma.shing the ripe. My Halifax is remarkable 

 for this property. AU the fruit on each of its 

 large clusters turns a dark blue at the same 

 time ; and a few ^veeks thereafter, being fully 

 ripe, they are fit at once, after pulling off, for 

 the compression, or table use. The Norton "N'ir- 

 ginia Seedling clusters are not altogether free 

 from green berries. The Cunningham has, on 

 every cluster, more or less green dwarfish ber- 

 ries, when all the rest on the cluster are fully ripe. 

 This last is especially excellent as an eating 

 fruit, but for \vine the above circumstance is ra- 

 ther an objection. Yet there is no additional 

 trouble on this score by the late Mr. Herbe- 

 mont"s favorite method, of making a verj- supe- 

 rior ■white ^vine out of a dark-colored grape, as 

 he details in his short treatise on vineyards. — 

 The process is that of putting the grapes, with- 

 out mashing, under the press, when the fully- 

 ripe berries only are broken, and have tlieir 

 juice expressed : while the green or unripe 

 ones, on examination after pressing, are found 

 whole. These last, or all the refuse, may be put 

 through the mashing machine and pressed for 

 an inferior v.-ine, vinegar, or distillation. But 

 the juice of the ripe fhut only has added to it 

 the requisite quantity of sugar or brandy, and 

 put into the cask to undergo the very sh'ght 

 fermentation that soon converts it into a very 

 sweet, pleasant, and pectiliarly healthful wine. 



Through the above process I make wines, 

 quite colorless, from several kinds of dark-col- 

 ored grapes, that odierviise. or by fermenting 

 ■with the skins, hvhich gives the coloring./ would 

 be a lighter or darker red. according to the peri- 

 od of fermentation. I frequentiy manage my 

 Halifax in this ■way, and the ^vine thus made 

 cannot be distinguished trota the colorless Scup- 

 pemong as to its appearance ; tliough when this 

 kind is fermented in the must, it is of a bril- 

 liant red hue, 



I state here that the Isabella is particularly 

 remarkable, in this region, for ripening its fruit 

 at succesave periods : that is, in seasons when, 



