272 GRAPE CULTURE AND 



the inside of the tank, is put over them, so that the juice 

 comes through the holes and stands above the mash and the 

 top fastened there. This is better than the first method, but 

 yet admits of great improvement. Naturally, fermentation 

 commences above, where the fluid comes into contact with 

 the air, slowly progresses downward, so that when the top has 

 already passed through fermentation, and become bitter, it is 

 still sweet below; and unless the lower fluid is drawn off and 

 poured on above, there is a great difference between the top 

 and bottom in its development, and it is very difficult to tell 

 when it is ready for pressing. 



My method, by which I have always made good clarets, 

 and had them ready for the press within five or six days, is 

 as follows : 



After the grapes are crushed, I fill them into the ferment- 

 ing vat. I prefer rather shallow and wide to the deep and 

 narrow ones which have been in use generally, say four feet 

 high by five feet wide. A small screen of wire should be 

 fastened over the faucet hole to keep out the skins and stems 

 if any are left, and to let the liquid run off clear. Then 

 fill your tanks to about a foot from the top, so that they will 

 not run over in fermenting, and stir the mass at least three 

 times a day while fermenting, with a wooden pestle made (or 

 the purpose, taking care that the whole mass is well mixed, 

 and the skins rising to the surface are submerged again, so that 

 no acetification can set in. This is a process of aerating, by 

 which the skins which have been exposed to the air are 

 again submerged and keep up a lively fermentation ; but if 

 the temperature of the fermenting room does not rise above 

 75 or 80, as it ought not to do, the temperature of the 

 mash will not rise above 90. It will be well, should fer- 

 mentation get violent above, to test the liquid below, at the 

 bottom of the vat, and if that should be much below the 

 temperature at top, to draw out some by the faucet below, 



