The Grape Culturist. 



During the last U\o or three days of 

 this wet period, grapes began to show 

 some rot, especially the Concord, but 

 as soon as the atmosphere became dry 

 the rotting entirel}' ceased. It was 

 worse on vines not very closel}' summer 

 pruned. The Catawba did not suffer 

 from rot but mildewed badly. 



The injury from the late spring frost 



(April ] 6th) was also greater upon the 

 Concord than upon an}' other variety 

 in our grounds, excepting, perhaps, 

 Clinton. I think fully two-thirds of 

 the primary fruiting buds on the Con- 

 cord were destroyed. I intend to make 

 you a full report of the damage by frost 

 at some future time. Yours, truly, 



C. ^V. Spalding. 



A FEW HIXTS O]^ WINE MAKING. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



It has been our fortune, during a 

 practice of nearly twenty years, to 

 serve an apprenticeship in American 

 "wine making, which commenced at 

 the rudiments of the art; and Ave well 

 remember how careful we would be to 

 pick our grapes, to get them thorough- 

 ly ripC; to keejD out all dew or rain, 

 and the doleful looks we would east 

 upon our imperfectly ripened grapes, 

 as we did not think it possible to make 

 good, drinkable wine from them. But 

 fortunately those days are past, and 

 we often think of them with mingled 

 pity and amusement. Thanks to the 

 teachings of Gall, Chaptal and Petiot, 

 we can now make good drinkable Avine 

 ever}' year. 



But, during this practice, Ave found 

 that different grapes requii^e different 

 treatment, almost as varied as the 

 grapes themselves. To elucidate this 

 we would once more briefly allude to 

 the definition of bouquet and aroma, 

 as already explained in the ''Chemistry 

 of Wine," by Mr. Erings. 



Aroma is the flavor peculiar to the 

 variety of grape : for instance the foxy 

 flavor so very perceptible as to be 



disagreeable in some of our grapes, 

 especial!}- the Northern Muscadine, 

 Perkins, Hartford Prolific, and even 

 in the Concord and CataAvba. 



Jjouquet is developed during fer- 

 mentation by the action of the alcohol 

 upon the acids. If the graj^e contains 

 but little acid it can not develop 

 much bouquet, nor can it be dcA'cloped 

 if the must does not contain sufficient 

 sugar to be changed into alcohol dur- 

 ing fermentation. These simple facts 

 Ave must keep before our eyes, as they 

 are the most important guides, in wine 

 making. 



We have some varieties of grapes 

 Avhich Avill make so-called aromatic 

 Avines: that is, the aroma of them is 

 most pleasant when fully developed, 

 Avhich it can on!}' be by thorough ri- 

 pening of the fruit. In this class Ave 

 can include the Creveling^ Cynthiana, 

 Arkansas, Hermann, Norton's ^ ir- 

 ginia, and perhaps Clinton. We 

 should therefore let these ripen thor- 

 oughly, if Ave intciul to make the best 

 Avine they can produce ; and for this 

 reason we think, those living in north- 

 ern latitudes, Avith shorter summers, 



