44 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Atigiin 27, 1830 



From the Columbian Qazette. 



I main at rest for a period from six to twentyfour 'rapid, and tlie wine prove stronger and lf?s sweei 



— or-o I 'i°'"'^> when they are to he strained througli a 



WINE FKOM NATIVE GRAPES. ! ^^^^^^ ^^g^ j,y ^^ ,„^,p|, f^^.^^ ^^ ^^,^ conveniently 



We acknowledge the receipt of four hotlles of ^ ^^ api.lied to them— one gallon of fresh water 



wine from Major Adhim, accompanying his re- '. ^^^ afterwards be passed through the 7narc, for 



ceipt in our paper of today for making wine from j ^j^^ pm.|,osg ^f removing any soluble matter whicli 



the wild grape, as a specimen of whatour coun- , ^^^^^ j^^^^.^ remained beliind. Twentyfive pounds 



try can produce with trifling labor. How much 

 better would it be for the health, comfort and mor- 

 als of our farmers, if they would bestow more 

 attention upon the manufacture of an article 

 which requires so little trouble and expense, and 

 which is so infinitely superi9r to the jioisonous 

 trash of every description sold under the various 

 names of spirits. 



Domestic wine. Cider and Perry are not only 

 more wholesome but cheaper than ardent spirits. 

 We have every variety of soil and climate, and 

 only need a little experience to rival the most fa- 

 mous wines of Madeira, France or Sjiain. 



Mr Editor — As there is now growing over 

 the whole face of our country, thousands of bush- 

 els of wild grapes, and as the Fox-graps is now 

 nearly of the size it will come to when at maturity, 

 I have written the accompanying receipt,, which if 

 you publish in your useful paper, it may be of 

 some advantag^e to the public in general. 



I have, according to this receipt, made wines 

 of various qualities, some of wliich accompanies 

 this — it was sometimes at three or four years old 

 equal to the best Madeira, according to the opin- 

 ions of good judges, and none of it so bad as the 

 low priced rot g'ui wines now imported, much as 

 your Malagas, Clarets, &lc, and it is as salubrious 

 as the best of those imported. I have made wine 

 of a Fox-grape that was pronounced by Mr Jef- 

 ferson and others, equal to the Burgundy lif Cham- 

 hertin, one of the best wines in France, and it was 

 at the time compared with Burgundy he had on 

 his table, imported by himself when he was Pres- 

 ident of the United States. And last autumn I 

 made a I'M'" °^ wine from the common small 

 grape, growing spontaneously on the fences, stone- 

 heaps and shrubs, by some called the Chicken, 

 and by others the Ciolyon grape ; it is the Vitis 

 sylvestris. or blue bunch grape of Bartram. This 

 wine was pronounced by several ladies and gen- 

 tlemen recently from France, equal to, and of the 

 flavor of Burgundy, that cost in France^we francs 

 per bottle. I am, Sir, 



Very respectfully yours, &c. 



JOHN ADLUM. 



TO MAKE WINE OF IMMATURE GRAPES. 



Although wine may be made in any stage of 

 their growth, and of any kind of grape, I would 

 advise them to be left on the vines until they have 

 attained their full size — and as the skin and stem 

 of the unrijie grape has no bad flavor, the grapes 

 may be used in any stage of their growth. Grapes 

 of different sorts and sizes may be mixed together. 



The following receipt is for ten gallons, wliioli 

 may be increased to any quantity by taking the 

 fruit, &c, in proportion : 



To a tub of the capacity of fifteen or twenty 

 gallons, take forty pounds of immature grapes, 



of good clean sugar, either brown or white, are 

 now to be dissolved in the juice thus procured, and 

 the total bulk of the fluid made up with water, to 

 the amount of ten gallons and a half. 



The liquor thus obtained is the artificial must, 

 which is equivalent to the juice of the grape. It 

 is now to be introduced into a tub of sufficient 

 capacity, over wliich a blanket or similar texture, 

 covered by a board, is to be thrown, the vessel 

 being placed in a temperature of from 60° to 80° 

 of Fahrenheit's Thermometer. Here it may re- 

 main for twentyfour hours or two days, accord- 

 ing to the symptoms of fermentation which it 

 may show, and from this tub it may be drawn in- 

 to ferment. When in the cask it must be filled to 



but it will accjuire more flavor. 



Cream of tartar, or, which is preferable, crud 

 tartar, may be added to the must in the projjortioi 

 of six ounces to ten gallons or one ])ound to i 

 barrel. 



If it is wished to have a very sweet as well a 

 brisk wine, the sugar may he increased five pound 

 for every ten gallons. And in this case if th 

 fruit is increased to fiffy pounds instead of fortj 

 or in that proportion, and keep it two years in th 

 cask, it will assume a Madeira favor, and it will I 

 a pteasanter and better wine than most Madeira not 

 imported. If the wine is intended to be less svvee 

 that is, five jiounds less of sugar to the ten gallon.' 

 if it is not bottled in March, it will, after th 

 inoiith of August or September, be a better win. 

 than the French Madeira now imported. But i 

 all the above processes if it is bottled in March, i 

 will seven times out often sparkle like Champaign 

 And all sparltling wines to drink them in perfec 

 tion ought to be drank in from twelve to eighteei 



the bung-hole, that the scum which arises from j months after it is made, 

 the bottom may be thrown out — as the fermenta- ; To insure briskness without excessive sweei 

 tioti |irocecds, and the bulk of the liquor in the ness, the fuitmustbe increased to fifty pound: 

 cask diminishes, the superfluous iiortion of the when the sugar is from 25 to 30 pounds. If, dui 

 must[i'iz. the half gallon) which was made for the jng the fermentation of wine thus formed, tlier 



express purpose, must be poured in so as to k'^ep 

 the liquor still near the bung-hole. When the fer- 

 mentation becomes a little languid, as may be 

 known by the diminution of the hissing noise, the 

 bung is to be driven in and a hole bored by its side, 

 into which a wooden peg is to be fitted — this peg 

 may be drawn once in two or three days, for a 

 few minutes, to let the air that has been generated 

 escape — and in about three weeks or a month it 

 may be drove in permanently tight. 



The wine thus made must be put into a cool 

 cellar, as it is no longer necessary to promote the 

 fermentation process. If the ojierator is not in- 

 clined to bestow any further labor or expense, he 

 may examine it in some clear cold day in January 

 or February, or the beginning of March, when if 

 it is fine and bright, as it frequently will be, it may 

 be bottled without further precautions. To in- 

 sure its fineness, however, it is the better practice 

 to rack or decant it towards the end of Perem- 

 ber into a fresh cask (fumigated with sulphur) so 

 as to clear it of its . lees. At this time also, the 

 operator will be able to determine whether it is 

 not too sweet for his views. In this case, instead 

 of racking it, &c, he will stir up the lees so as to 

 renew the fermenting process, taking care also to 

 increase the temperature at the same time. At 

 whatever time the wine is racked it ought to be 

 fined. Sometimes it may be necessary to rack it 

 a second lime into a fresh cask, (if the witH is 

 not perfectly bright,) and again repeat the opera- 

 tioii of fining. All .these removals should he 

 made in clear, dry, and ifi)OS?iblc, in cold weather. 

 In any case it must be bottled during the month 

 of March. 



The wine thus i)roduced will generally be brisk, 

 and similar in its qualities to the wines of Cham- 

 paign, with the strength of the best Sicily. 



Circumstances which cannot always be control- 

 ed, will sometimes cause it to be sweet and still. 



oiild appear any danger of the sweetness van 

 ishing altogether, it may be racked into a cask 

 fumigated with sulphur, and the fermentatio 

 checked by fining. Thus it will be speedily fi 

 for use. 



The best mode of fining wines that I am ac 

 quainted with is as follows, say for a cask of fror 

 thirty to thirtyfour gallons ■. 



Draw off a gallon or more wine, then take on. 

 quart of milk immediately from the cow afte 

 milking and before any separation takes place, t 

 which add two table spoonfuls of salt and one c '" 

 the sweet spirits of nitre — mix it with the win 

 drawn, and pour it into your cask and stir it wel 

 and leave the bung loose for about twelve hour 

 and then drive it tight — and in from eight t 

 twelve days it will be beautifully fine and brigh 

 and is ready to bottle. 



If the fermentation is complete, and all th 

 sweet principle turned to alcohol, fining is unnecef 

 sary, as the wine will be perfectly fine and bright— 

 and it is only to be fined when there is small par 

 tides floating in ir, or cloudy ; and when all th. 

 sediment, mucilage and other impurities are go 

 clear of, eitlier by fermentation or fining, it wil 

 then keep for an age or ages — no matter for it 

 strength, without it should extract some ferment 

 ing principle out of the cask. 



(no matter for the variety ichelher wildor cultivated,) 



and bruise them in successive portions by « Pre*^- I ^^'a^roThers toT.e''dry 

 sure suflicient to burst the berries without break- 

 ing the seeds : four gallons of water are then to variations of the process described above. 

 be poured into the vessel, and the contents are to The skin of the grape or the whole marc, as 

 be carefully stirred and squeezed by the hand until well as the juice may be fermented together in the 

 the whole of the juice and pulp are separated from vat or tub, along with the sugar in the first stage of 

 the solid matter. The materials are then to re- ' the process. The fermentation will thus be more 



Remarks on the general principles of husbandry 



J. Whatever may be the nature of your soil 



and situation of your farm, remember that there ii 

 no soil so good, but it may be exhausted and ruin, 

 ed by bad tillage ; and that there is none so bail 

 that cannot be rendered fertile by good tillage- 

 even barren heath, if it can be ploughed and 

 swarded. 



2. The true art of husbandry consists in suf- 

 fering no crop to grow upon your land, that will 

 so far exhaust your siil, as to lessen the value ol 

 yonr succeeding crop, whatever profit such a crop 

 mar afford you. 



3. To avoid this, suffer no orre crop to gro 

 two years successively, upon the same piece ol 

 ground, excepting grass and buckwheat, without 

 the fertilizing aid of rich manures to support the 



