248 GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE-MAKING.' 



of the place nor tlie year in which it was printed on its title-page) 

 — at a time, therefore, when factories of grape-sugar were yet un- 

 known in France, and cassonade (raw) sugar was mostly used for 

 improving the must. The wholesale price of this, according to the 

 then market value, was 60 francs. Now the expense for " grape- 

 sugar" in Dumont's calculation would not amount to above 80 

 francs, thereby leaving a net gain of 68 francs. 



Pa YEN, Professor of Chemical Sciences at Paris, says : The main 

 ingredient of the juice of the grape is the grape-sugar, whose quan- 

 tity augments by the maturing process, while the quantity of acids 

 decreases, though not in the same rate. The grape-juice, as a mat- 

 ter of course, is, in inferior seasons, poorer in sugar and richer in 

 acids than in more favorable ones. By adding sugar, especially 

 sugar of starch — that, however, has to be free from acids and pure 

 — it is therefore possible to obtain a good wine from inferior vint- 

 ages. This wine may not attain the standard of the best seasons' 

 growth, but with proper management will turn out better than 

 one without such a mixture. 



In the Revue des Deux-Mondes of September 1st, 1856, the same 

 savan expressed his firm conviction, in a treatise on the " Grape 

 Sickness" and its influence on the French wine culture, that an 

 addition of water to the must would be the sole means to prevent 

 future want of wine. 



Englishmen. 



M'CuLLOCH, in his work entitled The British Wine-maJcer, Lon- 

 don, 1835, says : In France, for a number of years, trials have been 

 made with grapes that had not yet matured (green) and sugar, and 

 always with the best success. This induced me to try the same 

 myself, with equal success, and repeatedly, under various modifi- 

 cations. The result, varying according to these, turned out a prod- 

 uct in wines that were similar to the Champagne, the Graves, the 

 Rhine and Moselle wines, of such an excellent quality, also, that 

 connoisseurs even could not tell their difference from the above- 

 mentioned originals. The grapes may be used for wine-making, 

 no matter how unripe they are. The procedure satisfies perfect- 

 ly, let them be even not more than half ripe or totally hard. The 

 greenest grapes will give a wine of the quality of the White Her- 

 mitage when adding three pounds of sugar to the gallon, and, con- 

 sidering the value of the product, the costs are but small indeed. 

 The rich and particular " bouquet" (flavor) of the original wines 

 characterizes just as strongly these imitations. 



In relation to the degree of maturity of the berries, the propor- 

 tion of those ingredients which serve for the formation of wine 

 must greatly differ. A large part of their salt, sour, and gum 

 contents changing into sugar during the process of maturing, it is 

 evident that, measure for measure, more of these parts are con- 

 tained by the unrijje than by the ripe berries. 



