572 



Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Attention may here be directed to the researches recently made by 

 Mr. W. Percy Wilkinson, of the Victorian Government Chemical 

 Analyst's Laboratory. The first of these (''Journal of the Board of 

 Viticulture of Victoria," pp. 81-96, 1892) dealt with the alcoholic 

 strength of Victorian wines, and gave the results of the examination 

 of over 400 wines grown in Victoria and 181 from other parts of 

 Australia, which had been exhibited at the Centennial International 

 Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888-9. It was shown that the average 

 alcoholic strength of Australian wines is 12 grammes of absolute 

 alcohol per 100 cubic centimetres, about 19 ounces of alcohol per 

 gallon, as compared with the French and German average of 8 

 grammes per 100 cubic centimetres, 12 ounces alcohol per gallon. 

 The second essay (" Australian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science," Adelaide, 1893) related to the sugar-strength and acidity of 

 Victorian musts, 119 samples having been examined. The third 

 investigation, under the same title as the second ("Proceedings of 

 the Royal Society of Victoria/' 1895, pp. 89-118), gave the result 

 of the determinations of the acidity and sugar-strength of 196 samples 

 of must, collected from typical vineyards in Victoria. The average 

 of the 315 samples is given in the following table, along with the 

 French and German averages : 



Assuming the complete fermentation of the 24 '2 grammes of sugar 

 per 100 cubic centimetres of Victorian must, the resulting wine would 

 contain 11 ? grammes of alcohol per 100 cubic centimetres, practically 

 identical with that found in the Victorian wines during the first part of 

 the investigations. Finally, Mr. Wilkinson advises more systematic 

 examinations at vintage-time by the vignerons themselves, that they 

 may gather the grapes at some more definite standard year by year, 

 in order that uniformity may be approached more closely in sugar and 

 acids, and conformity to European standards attained. 



LEADING VITICULTURAL AND OENOLOGICAL PERIODICALS AT 

 PRESENT TIME, THEIR COMMENCEMENT NOTED. 



France. 

 Revue internationale de Viticulture et d' Oenologie. 8vo. Ville- 



f ranch e, 1893. 



Feuille vinicole de la Gironde. Fol. Bordeaux, 1876. 

 Revue de Viticulture. 8vo. Paris, 1894. 

 La vigne Americaine. 8vo. Macon, 1877. 

 Le Progres Agricole et Viticole. 8vo. Moritpellier, 1879. 



