DR. L. GALL ON IMPROVEMENTS IN WINE-MAKING. 243 



Results of Mr. J. HUrter. 



This gentlemfin, the author of " The Rhenish Gro.pe CuUure,^^ 

 gained by the same proceeding, in the year 1825, from his vine- 

 yards at Damscheidt and Perscheid, two fuder of bouquet wine, 

 for which he received 1240 tholers^ and four fuder of good table 

 wine, which sold for 800 thalers — 2040 thalcrs in all ; while his 

 neighbors could not sell their wines higher than at 230 thalers 

 per fuder ; therefore for six fuder they received 1380 thalers. 

 His higher intelligence netted, therefore, to Mr. Hcirter, 660 tha- 

 lers more than his neighbors received from their vineyards, in- 

 cluding their labor. 



Results of Messrs. Buhl, Jordan, and Wolff. 



To further show the incalculable results of a careful picking, 

 let us look at the following : 



At their vintage of 1852, Messrs. Buhl produced a wine for 

 which, in the same year, 5000 florins per cask were offered. They 

 sold one quarter cask of Deidesheimer {Prima Auslese) for 1500 

 florins ; the whole cask, therefore, was worth 6000 florins. Mr. 

 Wolff, at Wachenheim, sold one cask of Wachenheimer of 1852 

 for 2500 florins, and asks for one cask of " 1852 Prima Auslese'^ 

 8000 florins. 



Method used in Tokay and in Syrmia, Hungary. 



The foundation of the so-called " Tokay" Hungarian wines is 

 the dry berries {Trochenheeren), which, hanging on the bush, have 

 almost been turned into raisins. The finest and most reliable 

 season of the year in that country is the latter part of summer 

 and the fall. The grapes ripen by the end of September, but, in 

 order to obtain good ^^Ausbruch,''^ they must become over-ripe. 

 The vintage is therefore retarded till November, and frequently 

 to the first frost ; so that, by the progressive drying up of the sap 

 in the stalk, the most matured berries shrivel together into raisins, 

 losing their transparency, and turning into a kind of blue color. 



As soon as these begin to show themselves the vineyards are 

 opened, and from day to day, at first, only the best of the dry ber- 

 ries are gathered. The main vintage, however, is retarded as 

 long as possible. When this takes place, the men and women 

 form into a line, advancing uniformly, each person carrying, be- 

 sides a wooden basket to hold the gathered grapes, another one 

 about the waist, into which they throw the single berries which 

 they break from out of the clusters. An inspector, whose chief 

 duty it is to watch that none are eaten, orders from time to time 

 another man to carry these picked dry berries to a vessel placed 

 for the purpose, and keeps, in general, an eye upon all hands that 

 they do not lag in their work, and are careful in picking. To pre- 

 vent any possible negligence or oversight in this, even the green 



