226 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



six gallons of the wine which you have drawn from the cask for 

 that purpose ; then return it to the cask, stirring it well into 

 the wine and stop the cask tightly ; in a week or two it will be 

 perfectly fine, then draw it off, throw away the lees and return 

 the wine to the cask. If you use the white of eggs, take seven 

 eggs for a barrel of wine, whip the whites thoroughly, mix with 

 the wine as above, whipping it with a clean whisk and return 

 to the cask. The wine is now made and should be kept in the 

 cask until ripe. It will be fit to use in two years, but will 

 improve with age. It should not be bottled, that is, it should 

 not be taken out of wood, where it ripens much more rapidly 

 than in glass, unless it is so light as to make it necessary in 

 order to save it from going sour. 



I now propose to show by what methods the harsh flavor — 

 commonly called foxy — of our wild grapes may be ameliorated 

 and a good wine obtained from them. 



The wild grape contains much more acid and a tougher and 

 more mucilaginous pulp than the wine grape. The excess of 

 mucilage causes a violent fermentation which it is difficult to 

 check, and it is necessary to dilute the acid to make a palatable 

 wine. The proportions of acid, sugar and water which are 

 found to give the best wines are as follows : in one thousand 

 parts, two hundred and forty sugar, six acids, seven hundred 

 and fifty-four water. All these proportions fail in the wild 

 grape. It contains more acid, less water and less sugar. With 

 the aid of proper instruments and experience in the manipula- 

 tions, one can restore these proportions exactly ; but as this 

 article is written for those who have neither time nor inclina- 

 tion for critical experiments, but who would be glad to be able 

 to make a good and wholesome wine out of the wild grapes of 

 their fields, I offer to them the following formula : To every 

 gallon of the grape juice add a gallon of pure water ; take the 

 cheese or pressing from the press and restore it to the mash-tub 

 and bruise it thoroughly again ; then add to it as much water 

 as you got pure juice from it at the first pressing ; let it stand 

 an hour or two and press again, then put the liquid into your 

 cask with the first pressing and the water which you had added 

 to it ; to every gallon of this mixture add three pounds of the 

 best white sugar — let this be dissolved in the water before you 

 add it to the grape juice — and give it a thorough fermentation ; 



