278 



CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



The berries of the service-tree dried in an oven and put 

 into a cask, in the proportion of about 16 or 18 pounds of 

 fruit to 26^ gallons of water, furnish, after four or five days' 

 fermentation, a very good drink. Plums and figs dried, 

 either by the sun or in an oven, may be made use of for the 

 same purpose. 



In order to render the liquor more wholesome or more 

 agreeable, several kinds may be mixed together, and thus 

 the defects of one kind will be compensated for by the good 

 qualities of another : a few handfuls of the red fruit of the 

 bird-catcher's service-tree counteract the flat, sweetish taste 

 of certain other fruits. 



In our farming districts the berries of the juniper are care- 

 fully collected and fermented, in the proportion of about 30 

 lbs. of berries to 38-^ gallons of water: the drink procured 

 from these is one of the most wholesome possible, but it re- 

 quires a little use to reconcile one to the odor and flavor of 

 it ; those, however, who do drink it, prefer it, after a short 

 time, to any other liquor.* 



The use of juniper contributes so much to health, that I 

 cannot too strongly recommend its being mixed in greater or 

 less quantities with all fruits which are to be subjected to 

 fermentation : its flavor alone will disguise the taste of such 

 liquors as, without being unwholesome, are flat, sickish, or 

 otherwise unpleasant. The rinds of oranges or lemons, aro- 

 matic plants, angelica roots, peach leaves, &/C. may likewise 

 be mixed with any of those fruits which are naturally too 

 sweet, and thus serve to raise the flavor of the fermented 

 liquor, and render it more strengthening and efficacious in 

 preventing the attack of disease. 



That part of CEnologyt of which I treat at this time, is 

 still in its infancy, but I do not doubt that by the applica- 

 tion of the true principles of science, and by employing 

 only those products which nature yields us abundantly and 

 without expense, we can procure for the husbandman a 



thousand francs' worth of this liquor : the peasants bring their cherries 

 to him, and he returns them one half of the product of the distillation. 



* The fruit of the strawberry-tree, medlar, plum, Neapolitan med- 

 lar, thorn-apple, cornelian cherry, privet, &c. may be treated in the 

 same manner, but the liquor made from them is not worth so much as 

 that made from the fruits above mentioned ; it is used only by the 

 poorest class of peasants. 



[ t CEnology, (snologie French, from olvog, icine, and Xoyoqj account 

 of. Science or knowledge of making wine. — Tr.] 



