MISCELLANEOUS. 199 



common sawdust; but it cannot be obtained, except 

 near cork manufactories, and perhaps not then to any 

 amount. If any such material is to be used, there is 

 none better or more easily procured than chaif of rye, 

 wheat or oats. Eice chaff would probably be still better. 



When the grapes are gathered, bring them into a 

 cool room and spread them out upon a table or shelves, 

 and let them remain there for a few days, until all sur- 

 plus moisture has passed off ; then pack them away in 

 the boxes, as follows : Spread a thick sheet of paper on 

 the bottom, then lay on a layer of bunches, placing them 

 close together ; then another sheet of paper, and so on 

 until the box is full. Boxes deep enough to hold four 

 or five layers are better than deeper ones. When the 

 boxes are filled, put them away in a cool place, and 

 where they can be examined occasionally, and the de- 

 cayed berries be taken out from time to time as they 

 appear. If the place is cool and the fruit sound and 

 ripe, they will keep three or four months without further 

 care. But if the grapes are to be marketed within a few 

 days, then they may be immediately packed into the 

 common five and ten pound "free fruit" baskets, and 

 the bunches laid in as close and as snugly as possible. 

 If the vineyardist has a cold storage room in which to 

 place the baskets as they are packed, they may be kept a 

 week or two before shipping, but it is not well to send 

 off baskets packed for any considerable time without 

 careful inspection, because those who sell such fruits on 

 commission dislike to receive complaints from their cus- 

 tomers about bad packing and poor condition of the arti- 

 cles passing through their hands. It is rare that an 

 inferior article of any kind commands remunerative 

 prices in any market, and vineyardists have to be con- 

 stantly on the alert to prevent loss from bad packing 

 and rough handling of their grapes. 



Wine Making. For my own part, I could never 

 understand why wine making had anything more to do 



