220 AMEEICAN GRAPE GROWING. 



plant, but unfit, in their present state, for the use or 

 nourishment of man. For instance, barley contains 

 starch, mucilaginous sugar, gum, adhesive matter, vege- 

 table albumen, phosphate of lime, oil, fibre, and water. 

 All these are necessary for the formation of roots, stalks, 

 leaves, flowers, and the new grain ; but for the manufac- 

 ture of beer, the brewer needs only the first three sub- 

 stances. The same rule applies to the grape. 



"In this use of the grape, all depends upon the judg- 

 ment of man to select such of its parts as he wishes, and 

 by his skill he adapts and applies them in the manner 

 best for his purposes. In eating the grape he throws 

 away the skins and seeds ; for raisins, he evaporates the 

 water, retaining only the solid parts, from which, when 

 he uses them, he rejects the seeds. If he manufactures 

 must he lets the skins remain. In making wine he sets 

 free the carbonic acid contained in the must, and re- 

 moves the lees, gum, tartar, and, in short, everything 

 deposited during and immediately after fermentation, as 

 well as when it is put into casks and bottles. He not 

 only removes from the wine its sediments, but watches 

 the fermentation and checks it as soon as vinous fer- 

 mentation is over, and the formation of vinegar about to 

 begin. He refines his wine by an addition of foreign sub- 

 stances; if necessary, he sulphurizes it, and, by one means 

 or another, remedies its diseases. 



'* The manufacture of wine is thus a many-sided art, 

 and he who does not understand it, or knows not how to 

 guide and direct the powers of Nature to his own pur- 

 poses, may as well give up all hopes of success in it." 



So far Dr. Grail ; and to the intelligent and unbiased 

 mind, the truth and force of these remarks will be appar- 

 ent. How absurd then are the blind ravings of those 

 who speak of "natural" wines, and condemn as adul- 

 teration and fraud every addition of sugar and water to 

 the must by man, in seasons when Nature has not fully 



