244 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



Ddosphere ; it therefore rarely happens that either one or the 

 other does not bear. This mixture, however, in the same 

 vineyard is injurious to the quality of the wine; for although 

 the several kinds of grapes do not ripen at the same time, 

 yet they are all harvested together. 



Grapes even of the same kind do not all ripen at the 

 same period ; the difference of exposure, and the vegetative 

 vigor of the vine advance or retard the ripening several days. 

 By gathering them all at once and subjecting them to the 

 same fermentation, the wine obtained is far inferior to what 

 it would be, if the grapes were culled, and only those press- 

 ed which had arrived at maturity. 



In most of the French vineyards, harvesting is commen- 

 ced early in the morning, and continued throughout the day, 

 till the vintage is ended ; as fast as the grapes are brought 

 in they are pressed, and the liquor thrown into the vat. Now 

 it is well known, that grapes when moistened with dew or 

 rain undergo a less speedy and thorough fermentation, than 

 when they are well dried ; and it is likewise an established 

 fact, that when the weather is hot during the vintage, the 

 fermentation of the grapes is not only more rapid but better 

 than in cooler weather. 



It appears, then, that grapes should not be gathered till 

 the heat of the sun has dissipated the dew ; it is, however, 

 difficult to wait for all the favorable circumstances for a har- 

 vest at the time of gathering grapes in our large vineyards ; 

 they can only be seized upon for the manufacture of the 

 most delicate and costly wines. The coarse red wines, like 

 those from the banks of the Loire and the Cher, are sought 

 for in commerce only in proportion to the depth of their 

 color, because they are principally used for mixing with 

 white wines : the new wines are preferred for this purpose, 

 from their containing a portion of mucilage, which gives to 

 the mixture a delicate taste, and those wines which have lost 

 this principle in the casks are rejected, though better for 

 drinking, because they are less fit to be mixed with dry 

 white wines. 



By improving the fermentation of these coarse wines they 

 would be rendered much better for drinking without any 

 mixture ; but the only sale there is for them would be closed, 

 as they would no longer be bought, as they are now, to form,^ 

 by being mixed with the white wine of Sologne, the princi- 

 pal drink of the people of Paris. 



In some wine countries it is customary to pluck the 



