280 GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE-MAKING. 



six or eigbt hours, until we take a proof from the faucet as well as 

 the cock. If there is no difference in the taste of these, we may 

 draw the fluid off bj the faucet ; otherwise we have to repeat the 

 filling, and not until then to draw off by the faucet, and to put 

 this, according to its quality, either to the husk-wine extract, or 

 to keep it in a separate barrel, to be used, instead of water, for 

 subsequent extractions. The remaining husks themselves arc of 

 no farther use. 



Besides the manifold advantages offered by this method of ex- 

 traction, by means of an upward removal and pure water only, 

 the following may be considered : Its allowing a rapid gain of 

 the juice ; the extraction of all the valuable ingredients of the 

 grapes ; that, of the sugar to be added, nothing can remain in 

 the husks nor in the yeast, because it is not mixed with the young 

 wine before the first draw off. 



After the performance of this labor, the principal object is to 

 determine the quantity of the sugar and acids of the grape-juice, 

 which can be done either directly or indirectly. 



Directly it is done by proving the fresh must itself by means 

 of the scale. It is, however, better to do it indirectly by allowing 

 the must first to ferment, and to find out the weight of the alco- 

 hol after the first draw from the yeast by means of the '■^vapori- 

 meter^'' and from this to determine the sugar quantity, counting 

 each per cent, of alcohol as two per cents, of sugar. As, howev- 

 er, either Geislerh Vaporimeter or Tallerons Alcoholometer might cost 

 too much for most grape-growers, the best plan would be to weigh 

 once a day, during the time of the vintage, the juice of the grapes, 

 to note this down regularly, and to adopt the average number of 

 these notices as the quantity of sugar parts for the season. 



The quantity of acids is best calculated on one and the same 

 day of all the produced must. Of this about a quarter of a pound 

 is to be heated to the boiling point in a small tin pan, in order to 

 evaporate the oxygen originated by the fermentation, and then to 

 be cooled down again to 20° E. 



Imjjroving the Natural Product. 



This is best undertaken after the first main fermentation has 

 taken place. The fermented must has to be quieted still more for 

 several days, to allow the yeast matters to settle perfectly, which 

 may be accelerated by burning sulphur in the vacant space of the 

 barrel. Now the grape-sugar has to be reduced to its true sugar 

 iceight, and to add to this tlie wanting quantity (for instance, 20 

 pounds to 100 pounds of lump sugar, 12 pounds to 100 pounds 

 of grain, and 8 to 100 pounds of pulverized). If this latter, or 

 grain sugar, is to be used, it only needs to put the calculated quan- 

 tity of water, sugar, and must into the barrel, and leave it to fer- 

 ment. If lump sugar is used, it must first be dissolved in a part 

 of the water to be mixed with the must, by boiling this (about 



