Keeping Grapes Under Ground. 



209 



while ill the contrary case it would be 

 paid for at an extravagant rate. 



Imported potato sugar of good 

 quality, containing some 15 per cent. 

 of dextrine (gum,) costs about 12 

 cents per pound at New York. Maize 

 eugar of equal purity can be furnished 

 here at 8 cents per pound. Twenty 

 pounds of either article, costing re- 

 spectively 82.40 and 81.60, would 

 yield 10 pounds of fermentable sugar 

 and 3 pounds of dextrine (gum,) 

 M'hile a bushel of barley will yield 

 not only 16 pounds of sugar, but 11 

 pounds of dextrine or gum besides. 

 Thus starch sugar can be added to 

 beer wort only in small quantities, 

 unless when it is desired to impart a 

 vinous character to the beer. AYhen 

 the latter object is not in view, the 

 best substitute for barley will alwa3'S 

 be found in maize or some other cheap 

 grain. 



Xot so in the tnanufaeture of wine. 

 For this purpose, good starch sugar, 

 containing not exceeding 15 percent, 

 of dextrine, is decidedl}' preferable to 

 cane sugar. A pound of the latter, 

 of the quality suitable for wine man- 

 ufacture, costs at least 15 cents ; 

 whereas, as just stated, good starch 

 sugar from maize can be sold at 8 

 cents. Now as 5 lbs. of starch suo;ar 



are equivalent to 2 pounds of cane 

 sugar as regards their yield of alco- 

 hol, the balance is altogether in favor 

 of maize sugar, to-wit : 



4 pounds cane sugar at 15 cts., 80.60 



5 pounds grape sugar at 8 cts., 80.40 

 The 15 per cent, of dextrine (gum) 

 contained in the maize sugar will 

 (according to the usual proportion of 

 sugar added to must) increase the 

 amount of "extract" in wine onl}' by 

 a few per cent., and will tend to give 

 it the ^'monthly" taste (''body") which 

 in meagre wines, already fermented, 

 is sought to be produced by the addi- 

 tion of glycerine. 



Enormous quantities of cane sugar 

 are already being consumed in the 

 wine manufacture in this country; so 

 that even as a consideration of nation- 

 al economy it is highly important to 

 supply in maize sugar a partial sub- 

 stitute for imported cane sugar. 



In a like manner the South, more 

 particularl}', might furnish a very 

 cheap cane sugar, whether in a liquid 

 or solid condition, and that answers 

 all the requisites of the fermontic arts; 

 provided it be free from nitrogenous, 

 mucous substances ; and which mo- 

 mentous difticulty the recent technical 

 progress offers the ready means to 

 overcome. 



KEEPING GEAPES UN DEE GEOUND. 



Friend Husmann : — Many years 

 ago, while in the nursery business, a 

 customer wanted some vines of me, 

 and while the}^ were being dug up he 

 asked me if I had kept any grapes 

 over winter. This was in March. Of 

 course he got a negative reply. Well, 



said he, when I come next week for 

 trees I will bring jon some along. 

 The thing seemed but a joke to me at 

 the time, but of course I thanked him 

 for the kind offer. True to his prom- 

 ise, when he came a week or ten days 

 thereafter, he brought me some. Not 



