HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



For red wines, the "whites of eggs, with sometimes a 

 part of the shells pulverized, are the universal and only 

 finings used. A few years back, when there was so great 

 a demand for pale sherry, the wine-merchants discharged 

 the colour with the assistance of a small quantity of new 

 milk. The folly of this fashion was no sooner seen, than 

 good brown sherries returned into favour. The Africans 

 of old used to mitigate and allay the tartness of their 

 wines with a kind of lime plaster ; while the Greeks of 

 the same day quickened their's with clay and marble 

 powdered, or with sea water. The Romans admired the 

 flavour of pitch, which was often added to their wines. 

 Thus we find it has ever been the study of the wine-mer- 

 chant to suit the taste of the times, but at no period has 

 it been found necessary to add baneful drugs. 



Grapes furnish the French with another article of com- 

 merce, almost equal in importance to their wines; namely, 

 brandy. It is computed that their exportation in this 

 liquor is not less than 50,000 pipes or pieces per ann. 

 which, at the average of five shillings per gallon, pro- 

 duces them nearly two millions sterling annually. The 

 brandies imported into this country are principally from 

 Bourdeaux, Rochelle, and Cogniac ; but they are very in- 

 ferior to those made in the neighbourhood of Nantes and 

 Poictou, from whence private families in. the city and 

 suburbs of Paris supply themselves, and they are very 

 careful to obtain the best quality of this spirit. All 

 brandies are originally white, but by long keeping they 

 naturally become a little stained by the cask ; and to give 

 this appearance of age to the brandies shipped for Eng- 

 land, burnt sugar and other dyes are added to such an 

 excess, as to destroy the natural flavour of the spirit. 



Private families would do well to buy none but the best 

 pale brandy, and the importation of bad brandies would 

 then speedily cease. 



