1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



VHd 



family, as those of the Berkshire and China cross. 

 When once made it may be followed upon cither 

 side, according to the fancy of the breeder; but 

 Jet the cross be made either way, it cannot be 

 amies. I would therefore say to the farmer, if 

 you would have the finest of hogs and the best 

 quality of pork, procure both the China ;.nd the 

 Berkshire, and you can never be at fault in pos- 

 pessing a perfect breed. 



There is still another variety of swine which 

 exists in this neighborhood, and which ! deem 

 too valuable to omit a passing notice of, while 

 discussing this important matter. The origin is 

 partly owing to accident, and partly lo my own 

 love of innovating;, as they were first produced 

 upon my own farm, and have since been so suc- 

 cessfully bred and substantiated asto claim llie mer- 

 it of a distinct variety. They originated from a 

 cross with a most valuable large white English 

 breed, and the improved China. They were bred 

 several years on my own farm, where some of 

 ihem now remain, but they are principally kept as 

 breedin;; stock, together with the China and Berk- 

 sliire varieties, by Mr. A. B. Allen. He has given 

 them the appropriate name of'theTuscarnrars, and 

 by a careful and judicious systein of selections 

 and breeding, he has brouixht them to great per- 

 fection. They combine in all their parliculais, 

 except in delicay and firmness of bone, the good 

 qualities of the China. They are longer bodied, 

 nearly double their size, yet smaller considerably 

 than the Berkshire, and will weigh 300 to 500 lbs. 

 at eighteen months old. They liitten equally as 

 well when six or nine months old as the China, 

 are liLMiter colored, being usually light s|iotted, 

 the white predominating. They have the tran- 

 quil pleasant habits of the Chinese, without the 

 uneasy, predatory propensities of the Berkshircs, 

 and are in all particulars just what the liirmer of 

 our northern and middle states would desire lor 

 a good stock and pork-hog. 



In fine, I do not know that I can better conclude 

 this long story, than by saying, that in small and 

 delicate breeds the China is the most perfect ; in 

 the large and grosser sorts, tlie Beikshire is deci- 

 dedly preferable ; but, for a good, honest, quid, 

 every -day hog, the Tuscarora is, after all, ecjual, if 

 not superior to either. At any rate, if you pos- 

 .sess nothing but the conmion breed, try one or all 

 of these, and you cannot but be essentially ben- 

 efited. A notice of other varieties must be left 

 for a future paper. Vs^m is. 



nEMARKS ON WINK-MAKING. 



To tlio Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Ficksburg, AIL, Feb. 11, 183?). 

 I perceive, in your last number, a notice of a 

 secret method of making wine from the grape in 

 the short space of six days. The subject of wine- 

 making has occupied a good deal of my attention 

 for several years past, and the article you have 

 copied struck me with a great deal of liirce ; not 

 merely from the magnitude of its importance, 

 great as it is, but Trom having had my own 

 thoughts turned to that particular object for some 

 time past. There are tv/o principal operations 

 which wine must undergo in order to perfect it- 

 self: firstly, Itjrmentatiort, which is not generally 

 completed under a year ; and secondly, the depo- 



sition of the tartaric acid which it holds in solu- 

 tion, and which requires, in most wines, several 

 years to accomplish iLill}'. Corn and rye are made 

 to develope the alcoholic principle perlijctly in 

 three days ; and I think there is no doubt but that 

 the juice of the grape may, by the addition of 

 yeast, be forced to perform the operation in the 

 same time. But it was a doublfLil (|uestion with 

 me, whether so rapid a fc;rmentalion would not 

 cause a greater loss of alcohol, as a consequence 

 of the greater degree of heat which would be ex- 

 cited. This question, however, is settled by Mr. 

 Da Cosla, ibr most unquestionably, this is a part 

 of his secret; as the; fermentation must be perfect- 

 ed before the wine is perfect. To dispose of the 

 tartaric acid, however, was with me the greatest 

 difficulty. I know of no means to hasten the de- 

 position; and the only mode lel't was to neutralize 

 it with an alkali ; but whether this cuuld be done 

 without injury to the wine, was another doubtful 

 question, and a quest ion which I conceive Mr. Da 

 Costa has settled. Here then, I presume, lies the 

 secret of making wine in six days. 



If this be the process of making new wine, then 

 the renovation ot' inferior wine is simple and easy. 

 Such wine has lost its alcoholic principle, or the 

 greatest fioriion of it. All that would be necessa- 

 ry would be to add, say half a pound of sugar to 

 the gallon, give it a gentle heat, and with yeast 

 renew the Itirmentation; then treat it as new wine. 



None of the treatises which 1 have seen on the 

 subject of wine-making, attempt to give an esti- 

 mate of the amount of alcohol dissolved in, and 

 carried ofl' liy, the carbonic acid gas ; but the 

 statements of various writers show that it is con- 

 siderable ; and it is evident that the quantity lost 

 must be in proportion to the heat generated, and 

 the heat will be in proportion to the rapidity of the 

 fermentation. 



My object in writing this, is neither to come into 

 competition vvitli Mr. Da Costa, nor to worm out 

 his secret ; but it is to call your attention, not to ■ 

 this point particularly, but to the subject of wine- 

 making generally. You have hereiolbre satis- 

 fied your conscience by giving publicity to such 

 comnmnications as were sent to you, and the ex- 

 traction of a few articles from other periodicals.* 

 If you look through the world, you will find that 

 wherever the viue is capable of being cultivated, 

 wine is one of the great staples of every country 

 except our own, and it is certainly worthy of very 

 serious inquiry why thi.^ conntry sii;<uld form an 

 exception to so general a rule. It cannot be the 

 difierence in the value of labor, Ibr that dillerence 

 is more than made up in tlie relative value of land 

 and the taxes. Chaplal gives the medium value 

 of land in the district of Chantpaigne at about one 

 thousand dollars an acre, (English measure) and 

 the taxes upon the produce at twenty-three dol- 

 lar's, making upwards of fifty dollars Ibr the two 

 items of rent and taxes. The value of the crop, 

 he states at twenty cents the gallon. I liave had 

 several laborers with me, Irom the vineyards of 

 Germany and France, who concur in saying that 



* We do not admit tlie justice of this charge. Our 

 correspondent was not a subscriber to the first three 

 volumes of this journal, or lie would have seen that as 

 murh attention has been paid to tlie subject of vinc- 

 cultur^,and wine-malcing as could haye bpen expected 

 ander.the existing circiimstaiices.— >Ed, F. R. 



