

THE GENESEE FARMER. 



dy. 



gr.apes, which are thrown into tubs or barrels and pressed separately, to mal?e a common 

 wine or vinegar. The finest grapes are carried thence to the stemming apparatus, where 

 they undergo another operation. 



" 3. Stemming. — Besides the improvement in the quality of the wine which this 

 process imparts, there is another material advantage derived from it, which consists in 

 the diminution of the bulk or volume of any given quantity of grapes in bunches. The 

 large press of the Messrs. Corneau being capable of containing upward of a hundred 

 bushels after the stems are removed ; from which about four hundred gallons of wine 

 may be obtained. 



" ' Stemming' consists in separating the berries from the stem by means of the appa- 

 ratus of which a wood cut is appended. The grapes are thrown on the wire sieve M., 



which is open enough to allow the berries to 

 pass, but retains the stems ; a little plank, P., is 

 held in an inclined position, to which a back- 

 ward and forward movement is given, so as to 

 force the berries through the sieve, and to re- 

 move out of the way all the stems as they are 

 stript ; with the aid of this apparatus, two men 

 can, in the course of three hours, if regularly 

 supplied with grapes, stem fi-om seventy to eighty 

 bushels. Improvements might be made, by 

 which the manual labor would be diminislied ; 

 but this simple and cheap apparatus which j\Ir. 

 Corneau has introduced, is generally used by 

 the wine manufecturers of France. 



"4. Mashing. — After passing through the 

 stemming process the grapes fall into a wooden mill, consisting of two rollers ridged 

 obliquely, to one of which is attached a set of screws by which their distance from each 

 other may be graduated to the proper degree ; it being desirable that every grape should 

 be crushed but that the seed should not be broken. 



" The rollers are turned by hand. The above wood cut exhibits in R, R, a section of 

 these rollers, and that which follows shows two men, one stemming, the other mashing 

 the grapes. From the rollers, the grape (being entirely separated from the stem and 



thoroughly mashed) passes into the press, 

 where the final operation of separating the juice 

 is performed. The wine passes from the bed of 

 the press, by means of a conductor, into the 

 basement, from whence it is conveyed into casks 

 containing 260 gallons each ; these, though by 

 no means of so large a size as those used by 

 some of our wine manufacturers, are of a very 

 convenient capacity for ordinary crops. The 

 first fermentation takes place immediately, and 

 at the end of six or eight weeks the wine be- 

 comes perfectly clear — or what is technically 

 termed "/we." A second fermentation takes 

 place in the spring, about the period of the 

 blooming of the grape. The wine should not 

 De bottled until it is at least one year old, though it is frequently bottled for immediate 

 use just previous to the second fermentation ; this may be done with safety if the bottles 

 can be kept in a very cool place. There are many who think the Catawba Avine is 

 s better at this period than ever afterward." 



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