246 AMERICAN GKAPE CULTUEE. 



nisli fresh air without having a current blowing 

 directly on the vines, or causing a sudden change 

 of temperature. When " stoning " takes place, 

 it is accompanied by a beautiful translucency ; 

 the berries "clear," and the ripening process 

 has fairly begun. It is not confined to any 

 particular part of the berry, but involves the 

 whole mass at one and the same time, like fer- 

 ment in a lump of dough. Air and water now 

 more than ever influence the goodness and 

 flavor of the fruit : the first is carefully regula- 

 ted, and the last gradually withheld. Not a 

 bunch is disturbed till the ripening is com- 

 plete, and then he has grapes of such excel- 

 lence as to reward him for all his labor, beauti- 

 ful to look upon, and exceedingly good to eat : 

 the flesh is tender and melting, the juice pure, 

 sweet, and vinous, with a delightful muscat 

 aroma, the skin quite edible, and there is no 

 waste except the small seeds. He eats his 

 grapes with great enjoyment, and both body 

 and mind are refreshed. Here skill, working 

 on proper subjects, produces its legitimate 

 results in a high degree of excellence. 



Thus we see, in the best foreign varieties, 

 that all the elements of a good grape have been 

 brought together, as it were, in equilibria, and 



