144 The Connecticut Pomological Society 



ment may safely be deferred until the fruit is half grown. Experi- 

 ment judiciously with Bordeaux, 2-4-50. Do not be frightened 

 by slight injury to the foliage. A thrifty peach tree can lose at 

 least 10 per cent of its leaves without suffering any ill effects, 

 and with positive benefits to the fruit in the way of high color 

 and comparative freedom from fungous attacks. 



The President: "The next will be a paper on ' Grape - 

 growing and Wine-making in Connecticut ' by Mr. Albert Bern- 

 hard, of Meriden." 



GRAPE-GROWING AND WINE-MAKING IN CONNECTICUT 



BY ALBERT BERNHARD, MERIDEN 



In speaking about grapes and wine-making at our annual 

 meeting in February, last year, it was in a summary way: to- 

 day I shall enter more into details about this new industry. 



The samples exhibited to-day are: Claret, 1900 and 1895; 

 port, 1900; Sauternes, 1900. The first two are made from 

 Early Victor, Concord and Worden ; the last from Delaware, the 

 little red grape, all grown by Charles I. Allen, of Terryville, 

 Conn. • 



The vintage of 1900 has been a rather remarkable one; the 

 rarity of rain during the growing and maturing seasons has 

 somewhat impaired the quantity, but not improved the quality 

 decidedly. On the ''must scale," an instrument to ascertain the 

 amount of saccharine (sugar) in the grapes, the average attained 

 in Connecticut is about sixty-five degrees, or less, — last Octo- 

 ber it came up to sixty-seven and sixty-nine for Concords, and 

 seventy to seventy-two for Delawares. 



This "must scale" (CEchsle's) gives the percentage of alcohol 

 the future wine will contain when fermentation is completed ; 

 that is, that these wines will have respectively from seven and 

 one -half to nine degrees of alcohol, which is a right average for 

 wines having the requisite keeping qualities. Wines below that 

 percentage are liable to accidents and deterioration. 



It would be better, as stated before, to plant more of the 

 newer kinds, containing a higher amount of sugar, which would 



