252 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



The branches are cut off with a knife, (after the dew or fog, 

 if any, has been dispelled) put into a basket, and carried to the 

 press. Here the rotten and unripe berries should be picked 

 out before the bunches are thrown upon a coarse wire sieve. 

 A man presses the bunches upon this sieve, through which the 

 grapes fall, some broken and others unbroken, while the large 

 stems and leaves will not pass, and are thrown away. Below 

 the sieve is the masher, composed of two rollers, ten inches in 

 diameter and three feet long, made of iron or wood. These 

 rollers, turning toward each other, crush the berries, but do 

 not bruise the seeds, which, if crushed, would give a bitter 

 taste to the wine. In large establishments a machine called a 

 stemmer is used to tear the berries from the stalks before they 

 go to the masher ; and the grapes are thrown from a wagon 

 with a pitchfork into a hopper that feeds the stemmer. 



The stemmer and masher together crush all the grapes, and 

 the best part of the juice is liberated before the press is reached ; 

 and that which runs first from the grape is better than the 

 last squeezings. Usually the fresh j uice of all grapes is free 

 from color ; and when red wine is to be made, the crushed 

 grapes, as they come from the masher, are thrown with their 

 juice into a vat, and allowed to stand six or eight days, at 

 the end of which time the alcohol formed by fermentation has 

 dissolved the resinous coloring matter in the skin of the grape, 

 and then the pressing can be done. 



180. Fermentation. After the pressing, the red and 

 white wines are treated in the same manner. The juice is put 

 into large casks, usually those of one hundred and forty gallons 

 each, and about one hundred and fifteen gallons are put in 

 each. The casks are thus not filled entirely, but a consider, 

 able surface of the wine is left exposed to the air. This is to 

 favor fermentation, to which the atmosphere is necessary. The 

 cask lies upon its side, the bunghole is left open, and in 

 three or four days the fermentation begins ; in three or four 

 more, its period of greatest "activity has passed. The temper- 



