346 GRArE CULTURE AND WINE-MAKING. 



50 to 60 cubic centimeters of liquid. This goes exactly down to 

 the middle of the brass stove T, heated by a spirit lamp. It is to 

 be almost filled with wine, covered by the round lid j>, to which 

 the thermometer has to be fixed, and to be brought to boiling. 

 The degrees up to which the quicksilver rises at the boiling point 

 also indicate the alcohol parts in the wine. See, also, the " Vapo- 

 rimeter" illustrated, and its mode of operation described, in Ap- 

 pendix C, pages 289, 290. 



Firfs. 8, 9. Se])arator for separating the grapes from the stems. — 

 A cylinder, C D, composed by wooden sticks lying horizontal 

 above the receiving tub, in which the grapes are shaken by means 

 of wooden dashers, ah^c cZ, fixed to the axle M G {Fig. 9). A 

 box, A B, stands upon this cylinder, into which the grapes are 

 thrown. Two cross-sticks put through the hooks c c serve to lift 

 the whole apparatus upon the tub. The berries, getting separated 

 from their pedicles, fall through the interstices into this latter, and 

 are taken out through the door p. 



Fig. 10. An apparatus by which the carbonic acid gas escaping 

 during the fermentation of the wine-must may be turned to use. 

 The end, /, of a conducting tube, let into the fermentation tub, may 

 be so arranged that it is brought into a barrel, e, half filled with 

 water. This extracts all foreign vaj)ors out of the gas, which then 

 is conducted by a tube, i'^, into a second barrel, C, filled with crys- 

 tallized carbonic acid natron. The gas gets absorbed by this salt, 

 and settles by being changed into double carbonic acid natron by 

 the action of the carbonic acid. From C the gas goes through 

 the tube t" into the barrel C, where it undergoes the same change. 

 This double carbonic acid natron must then be dried, and will 

 form an amply paying equivalent for the trouble of its making. 



Fig. 11. " Fermentation vat of masonry," sometimes used instead 

 of wooden tubs. — MM are the upper walls of the vault, through 

 which a circle-shaped opening, S, goes with slightly slanting sides. 

 Upon these lies a caoutcliouc ring, C C, about 1 centimeter thick, 

 serving to close the stone slab, a a, S, air-tight, which has 3 iron 

 rings, a a. The screw V, which goes through the iron cross-piece 

 F, fixed by clamps let into the slab stones, holds it tightly closed 

 against any pressure of the carbonic acid from inside. P H is a 

 double door — P the inner wooden door, H the outer one, of cast 

 iron ; both are firmly pressed by the screw V. Z is a spout 

 through which the sediments are drawn off, and the water used 

 for cleaning the vat. I E is a tube to let the fermented wine off; 

 t is the tube to let the gas off through ; x another opening, serving 

 to screw a third tube into, or to take some wine out from above. 

 T is a thermometer. The benefits derived from such vats are 

 their holding the warmth better than wooden tubs, allowing the 

 fermentation a very regular course, and their capability of being 

 heated from outside in cold weather, in order to bring the tem- 

 perature of the walls up to 100° C, the most proper for musts of 

 low temperature. 



