Daueous matter float on the surface of the mass ; 

 theu by a spigot, near the bottom, I draw off the 

 clear juice, and, Eteaming it through folds of a 

 woolen blanket, as above stated, I add forthwith 

 the sugar or spirits ; after this, treatment in the 

 cask, as before stated. But when I wish to 

 make a white or colorless wine, from colored 

 grapes, I pm-sue the same plan' as first named, 

 witli the exception of gathering the grapes in 

 the morning, ore the sun heats the skins and 

 tinges the juice, and without mashing the grapes. 

 By putting them under the press whole, those 

 fully ripe only, after pressing, will be found bro- 

 ken. Those not broken may be mashed for an 

 inferior wine or vinegar; and, also, when tlie 

 clear juice is drawn off, in case of fennentation, 

 with the skins in the open-headed cask, the rest 

 may be pressed for the like purpose. 



Once I tried the plan of fermenting with the 

 sugar or brandy added, under the impression of 

 making a more homogeneous liquor thereby ; 

 but I found no advantage in the way anticipated, 

 and that it was difficult to arrest the fermenta- 

 tion after drawing off; and, not unfrequently, 

 the wine would, in spite of efforts to save it, run 

 into the acetous fennentation. .It 



The foregoing process of wine-making I have 

 found attended with uniform success, and the 

 wines made thereby have been pronounced, by 

 most competent judges, excellent in all respects. 



A very good Champagne kind of wine can be 

 made by bottling the Scuppeniong, or other 

 kinds of juice, after straining as before du-ected, 

 and putting it up at once in strong Champagne 

 bottles, corked and wired. 



A remark or two in allusion to a few circum- 

 stances in the foregouig methods of wine-mak- 

 ing : 



1. The folds of woolen blanket will repeated- 

 ly become clogged with the extraneous matter, 

 and (especially if the grapes are very ripe) the 

 blanket must be washed or exchanged several 

 times in making a barrel of wine. 



2. Again : when racking, the cask into which 

 the wine is again turned must be well fumigated 

 with a brimstone match — say a strip of cloth 

 dipped in melted sulphur, and set on fire, and 

 on a thin wire put into the middle of the ca.sk, 

 and the bung put in for a short time ere turning 

 the wine therein. 



I find, by carefully straining, as stated, and 

 putting the requisite quantity of the preserving 

 ingredient, (the quantity depends measurably 

 on the kinds and ripeness of the grapes, &c.) it 

 is not material \%hether the cask be filled up, or 

 whether different quantities be put into it on 

 successive days ; though it is well to fill each 

 cask at once, if convenient. If the spot where 

 it is placed be kept dark, the better for the safe- 

 keeping and improvement of the wine. 



I do not think it worth while to detail other 

 (497) 



methods of wine-making in our State, for the 

 above I have found safe, easy, and effectual, for 

 a good wine ; and others I have tried without 

 uniform success, and with considerable loss. 



Of course, the better the sugar or brandy, the 

 less required to the gallon of juice to insure the 

 keeping. I was once told that one-seventh of 

 brandy was sufficient, but experience has shown 

 me that a fourth is the medium quantit}- of spir- 

 its. I have tried putting in less than two pounds 

 of sugar when making a sugared wine ; if less is 

 used, the juice or must should float an egg. But 

 this I found of somewhat doubtful issue. I have 

 tried putting in the keeping ingredients at dif- 

 ferent periods iu the same cask as found need- 

 ful, but conclude it is decidedly best to put in 

 plenty at once. Yet, in some instances?, I have 

 saved or recovered injured wine by adding 

 more sugar or brandy. 



With the juice of well-ripened grapes, strain- 

 ed as before stated, and one-third good spirits 

 and two pounds of doubly-refined sugar added' 

 to the gallon, a most pleasant, healthful and me- 

 dicinal cordial is made, according to trials and 

 opinions of the best judges of the quality of cor- 

 dials. 



As to wines, however, I have found it best to 

 use either sugar or spirits, and not both at once 

 or for the same article. 



Colorless wines may have any shades of red 

 color imparted to them by smaller or larger pro- 

 portions of scorched sugar or baked apples put 

 into the cask. But sugared wines must, if it is 

 deemed proper to resort thereto, be colored 

 with sugai' and brandied with apples, or the uni- 

 ty of taste is injured. But I deem it best, in 

 general, to let the -white wines remain so. In 

 short, as to selection of grapes and materials, 

 and the process of turning their quintessence in- 

 to wines, (I have xitterly failed in attempts to 

 make raisins, though not in preserving gi-apes 

 for mouths,) much depends on the pains taken, 

 as well as on other matters, as to degrees of ex- 

 cellence and value of the wines. And there- 

 fore, of right, prices vaiy, in my establishment, 

 from Sl.i to $.50 per baiTel. Hence, too, 1 pre- 

 sume, the diversity of prices in the East. And 

 as an instance of diversity of treatment there, I 

 have been credibly informed that, ere shipping 

 the celebrated Port wine, for safe-keeping i 

 the voyage, &c., they add one-third of good 

 brandy. 



I beg leave to add that, in the midst of a press 

 of cares and employment, I have now finished 

 (I fear, thovigh, in a very imperfect manner.) my 

 third and last number on the subjects you sug- 

 gested. That yourself and co-partners, in ad- 

 vancing the benign cause of American Agricul- 

 ture, in its diversified branches, may have the 

 happiness of seeing so good an undertaking 

 prosper in your hands, is my sincere desire. 



