224 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of Massachusetts, wine from the grape is much superior to that 

 from the currant, in quality, and invaluable in cases of sickness 

 or debility. It can be made without difficulty if certain plain 

 rules are observed, and the kind of grape used is adapted to 

 the making of a good wine. 



It is not always that a fine table grape will make a good 

 wine ; indeed there are many excellent wine grapes which are 

 unfit for the table, and many of the finest table grapes are unfit 

 for wine. A good wine grape should give an abundant juice 

 of a good color, with astringency enough to give character and 

 tone to the wine, but not so much as to give it a disagreeable 

 flavor. It should contain sugar enough to make the wine keep 

 well, but this is not indispensable, for sugar may be added if 

 the grape possess the other qualities proper to a good wine. 



I will state the method I pursue in making wine from grapes 

 containing the proper qualities for that purpose, and will show 

 in another place by what methods excessive harshness may be 

 ameliorated, and unpleasant flavors removed, or so qualified as 

 to yield a palatable and wholesome wine. 



The first necessity in wine-making is to prepare your casks. 

 These should not be new, for the new wood would give an 

 unpleasant flavor to the wine. It is better to use casks which 

 have already held wine or spirit ; they should be perfectly clean 

 and sweet, well made and strong. The press — which should 

 be a strong screw press — must be perfectly clean, and care 

 must be taken to keep it so during the whole process. Few 

 grapes are so tender as to yield their juice without bruising ; 

 you will therefore need a mash-tub and a long wooden pestle 

 to break them. I do not strip the grapes from the stems, for I 

 believe they give to the wine a tonic property and make it keep 

 well. The grapes should be gathered in a dry day; gather and 

 press them as rapidly as possible, remembering that fermenta- 

 tion never goes back, and it is important to have the whole 

 body of your wine start at one time if possible, lest a portion of 

 them must grow sour before the rest is fermented into proper 

 wine. The grapes should be ripe, but not over ripe ; green 

 berries should be removed ; they give to the wine a sour taste 

 which is a long time in passing away. A bushel of grapes 

 should give four gallons of juice ; but few grapes, however, 

 yield so much as this, the product varying from two and one- 



