508 



W I xN 



WITS 



days is dried up, when (he horse j 

 may be put (o his usual work, and 

 the blistering ointment renewed in 

 that rriaoner once a month or of- 

 tener, as the horse can be spared 

 from business, till the cure is com- 

 pleted. This is the only method 

 to prevent scars, which firing of 

 course leaves behind, and unless 

 skilfully executed, too often like- 

 wise a fulness of the joint, with stiff- 

 ness. The mild blistering oint- 

 ment, where the sublimate is left 

 out, is the properest for this pur- 

 }X)se."- — BartleOs Farriery, page 

 27G. 



^VINE, a general name given to 

 any brisk and cordial liquor drawn 

 from vegetable bodies, and fer- 

 inented ; but it is the more appro- 

 priate name of the juice of the 

 grape. 



My general design, will permit 

 me only to give an abstract of the 

 making and management of wines, 

 as practised in France. 



The wine presses that are used 

 m that cout)try are similar to the 

 screw presses that we use in mak- 

 ing cider, hut of more nice and ex- 

 quisite workmanship. 



" In order to make good wines, 

 the grapes of the same vine must be 

 gathered at different times. The 

 hiBt gathering should be the ripest 

 clusters, cut close to the fruit, to 

 avoid the sharpness and austerity 

 of the stalk, and all rotten and 

 green grapes should be taken away 

 from the branches. 



" The second gathering is some 

 time after the first, when all that 

 are ripened are taken. The third 

 and last gathering will coiisist of 

 the refuse of the two former; but 



no rotten grapes should be admit- 

 ted in either. 



" A method of making wine in 

 the greatest perfection is, strip the 

 grapes from the stems, before they 

 go into the vat. Wine thus made 

 is the mellowest, best coloured, 

 soundest, and fittest for keeping. 



" The wine of black grapes may 

 be made of almost any colour; and 

 the French make all their wines, 

 both white and red, from black 

 grapes. 



"They who make white wine go 

 into the vineyard in a damp misty or 

 dewy morning, with a sufficient 

 number of hands to gather a whole 

 pressing of grapes in a fe'v hours, 

 beginning very early that they may 

 not be belated. They cut off the 

 best bunches, lay them gently in 

 hand baskets, in which they carry 

 them to the panniers, and in the 

 panniers on gentle beasts to the 

 press, taking eare not to tumble nor 

 bruise them. The dew increases 

 the quantity of the wine, but ren- 

 ders it weaker. When the heat is 

 not great, the vintagers continue 

 their work till eleven o'clock, oth- 

 erwise they leave off at nine be- 

 cause of a hot sun. 



" As soon as the grapes arrive 

 they are thrown into the press, and 

 the first pressing is given without 

 delay. The wine that runs from 

 this pressing is the most delicate of 

 any, but not the strongest. 



" After this first pressing, which 

 is gentle for fear of discolouring the 

 liquor, the press is raised, (ho scat- 

 tering grapes are laid upon the 

 cake, and the second pressing is 

 given. The press is screwed down 

 with "roatcr forc^ than before 1: 



