252 



The Grape Culturist. 



lamitous, as regards national economy. 

 Barley grows like rye and wheat, and 

 affords elements of nutrition. It is 

 capable of nourishing men and fitting 

 them for labor. But in the brewing of 

 beer we separate its most valuable con- 

 stituents, in a form that is only service- 

 able for feeding cattle, while from the 

 far less valuable portion, the starch, we 

 prepare a drink, which to be sure has 

 its excellencies, but can very well be re- 

 placed by moderately good and light 

 wine. Where barley grows either 

 wheat or rye can grow, or we can use 

 the barley like these ; but where the 

 vine flourishes cereals can rarely be 

 cultivated. In the grape, the nutritive 

 elements which separate in the ferment 

 are unimportant ; but they form the 

 chief part of grain. The nutritive 

 powers of beer are fabulous. If it is 

 to nourish, we must at least take a crust 

 with it. 



^^But it is quite certain that a man 

 will be perfectly satisfied with, and 

 supported b}', that quantity of barle^^ 

 in the form of bread, which, as beer, 

 he tosses off contentedly, with the 

 wish for more. But I by no means 

 desire that men shall eat barley bread 

 and drink water with it ; let them 

 have white w^heaten bread for food 

 and wine to drink ; and this can be 

 easily compassed when our barley 

 fields are sown to wheat, and our 

 wines, unpalatable in the majoriij^ of 

 seasons, made pleasant by simple 

 modes of treatment. These processes 

 are neither so artificial or unnatural 

 as that of beer brewings indeed, there 

 was a time when the addition of hops 

 to beer was just as much decried, and 

 even made i:)unishable by law, as the 

 treatment of acid must with sugar is 



now decried, and sought to be made 

 a punishable offence. But all this 

 can not mislead us to slight the o;en- 

 eral good for the whims of individuals, 

 especially when no actual difference 

 can be found between choice natural 

 wane and Avell-prepared sugar wine. 

 Soon after the publication of Petiot's 

 process, the opposers of the method 

 in Burgundy applied to the Minister 

 at Paris for protection against this 

 branch of industry. His Excellency 

 applied himself to the affair quite 

 seriously, and bade the complainants 

 furnish him with the exact difference 

 between natural and sugared wines. 

 'There is none at all,' was the natur- 

 ally despondent reply. And in fact 

 there is no difference whatever. No 

 judge of wine, nor any chemist, can 

 with certainty give the tests which 

 distinguish an imitated from a natural 

 wine. 



"It is true that the opponents of 

 artificial wines affirm that they can 

 recognize them Avithout fail at the 

 first sip ; that they give one the head- 

 ache ; that one desires no more than 

 a single glass. But all these asser- 

 tions are empty falsehoods. I have 

 myself seen instances where prac- 

 tised wnne-tasters, in their fear of 

 being overreached, have declai'ed per- 

 fectly pure natural wines chaptalized,. 

 and been well laughed at for their 

 pains; and other cases where they 

 were not able to pick out the sugared 

 "vvine from among mixed samples. 

 But, as the Burgundian gentlemen 

 told their minister, there is no differ- 

 ence whatever, except that among na- 

 tural wines there occur man}^ sour, flat 

 and undrinkable, which in the case of 

 wines scientifically prepared is impos- 



