160 



The Grape Culturist. 



or bouquet to the wine. This thing is 

 well understood in Europe, and we 

 have to learn it practically here, too. 

 I hope to see this position fully venti- 

 lated through the columns of 3'our 

 valuable paper. Let men of learning 

 and expei'ience si)eak out on this im- 

 portant subject, so that every new 

 beginner can have the full benefit of 

 other men's failures and misfortunes. 



It is my opinion that the time is not 

 very far off when most of oiu" valuable 

 wines will be named by the particular 

 hill or hills and other peculiarities con- 

 nected with it. For instance^ I have 

 made some wine this year from Nor- 

 ton's Mrginia grapes, Avhich were 



grown on one of the sandstone liills in 

 Jackson Co., Ills. Said wine is so 

 unlike any other Norton's that not one 

 man in ten will believe it to be Nor- 

 ton at all. There is likewise as great 

 differences in Concord, arising from 

 the different composition of the soil 

 and other influences. 



G. C. ElSEN MAYER. 



[We need not saj- that we fully en- 

 dorse the above, as we have long ago 

 contended that no universal grape for 

 this country could be found. We hope 

 others will give us their observations 

 on varieties, and their adaptation to 

 soil and location.— Ed.] 



D'HEUHEUSE PATENT AIR TREATMENT. 



Friend Hlsmann : 



T waited several months, hoping 

 some of your »vine contributors Avould 

 respond to your request for results of 

 experiments in wine making by this 

 new process. As none of the frater- 

 nity have reported, I propose to give 

 my experiment on new Sruppernong 

 ivine last November. To arrive at a 

 clear and concise understanding of 

 the results, I deem it necessary to 

 give the character of the Scupper- 

 nong must. It is deficient in both 

 sugar and acid, the former rates about 

 70* on the scale, the latter about four 

 mills. The fermentation is extremely 

 sluggish and has a natural tendonc}^ 

 to effervesce for a ^ear or more, and 

 when kept from the air remains sweet, 

 and with me has never made a dry 

 wine. 



On the 27th of October last I re- 

 ceived from Mr. D'Houreuse an appa- 



ratus of the capacity for working 100 

 gallon casks, for which I paiJ 825. 

 On the 2Sth, elevated the casks into 

 the fermenting room and raised the 

 temperature to 80'^ F. The wine was 

 at the time one month old and very 

 sweet. The first application was vig- 

 orouslj' applied ten minutes, and re- 

 sulted in heavy foaming, followed by 

 regular vinous fermentation; air was 

 regularly and nioderateh' impelled 

 five minutes ever3' eight hours, the 

 room kept at a regular temperature 

 of 80^ F. At the close of the fifth 

 day the sugar was perfecth' attenu- 

 ated and a perfect dry wine obtained. 

 The wine was drawn from the lees in 

 three days afterwards into sweet casks, 

 and in five days more was drawn per- 

 fectly clear and fino, and bottleil for 

 exhibition at the State Fair, where it 

 obtained a diploma. I would state 

 that no fining materials were used. 



