82 



BTJSHBEBG CATALOGUE. 



late grapes will mature . This noble fruit does not ripen, 

 like some other fruit, after being gathered. Always 

 gather the grapes in fair weather, and wait till the dew 

 has dried off before commencing in the morning. Cut 

 off the clusters with a knife or shears, and clip out the 

 unripe or diseased berries, if any, taking care however, 

 that the bloom shall not be rubbed off, nor any of the 

 berries broken, it they are to be sent to market, or to be 

 kept into winter. 



For packing grapes for market, shallow boxes, hold- 

 ing from three to ten pounds, and especially manufac- 

 tured for the purpose in all the principal grape regions, 

 costing about one cent per pound, are used. In 

 packing, the top is first nailed on and a sheet of thin 

 white paper put in; whole bunches of grapes are first 

 put in; the vacant places left are filled with parts of 

 bunches, so that all the space is occupied and the whole 

 box packed, as closely and as full as possible, without 

 jamming. Another sheet of paper is now laid on and 

 the bottom nailed down. By this means, when the 

 boxes are opened, only entire bunches are found at the 

 top. 



Grapes could be easily preserved for months if you 

 had a cool room or cellar, where the temperature could 

 be kept between 35 and 40. In a warm, damp atmos- 

 phere, grapes will soon rot. Mr. Fuller recommends, 

 for preserving grapes, to bring them first into a cool 

 room, spread them out and let them remain there lor a 

 few daj s, until all surplus moisture has passed off; then 

 pack them away in boxes, placing the bunches close 

 together, and thick sheets of paper between each layer. 

 When the boxes are filled put them away in a cool 

 place; examine them occasionally and take out the de- 

 cayed berries, from time to time, as they appear. If 

 the place is cool and the fruit ripe and sound, they will 

 keep three to lour months. Another method by which 

 grapes are sometimes successfully preserved till late in 

 March, especially in France, is this: cut a branch hav- 

 ing two bunches of fruit attached and place the lower 

 end in a small bottle of water, through a perforated 

 cork; seal the upper cut end of the branch and also the 

 cork with sealing wax. A little charcoal in the water 

 preserves its purity. The bottles are then placed in a 

 dry cool room, where the temperature is pretty even 

 and never falls below Ireezing point, and are kept in an 

 erect position (usually by a rack made lor the purpose) 

 care being taken that the clusters do not touch each 

 other and that every imperfect grape be removed as 

 fast as it shows signs of lailing. But very few persons 

 however, can bestow this care and still less have a fruit 

 room or cellar, that can be kept so cool (40). 



Lately we have seen and tasted Concord grapes, kept 

 Iresh and beautiful, in a porous, unglazed earthen jar, 

 manufactured for this purpose by T. J. Price, Macomb, 

 Ills., who says : " The clusters are to be laid carefully 

 in them as soon as picked, and then taken to the cellar 

 or basement, or some cool place where they can have 

 both ventilation and moisture; if they are put in a room 

 above ground, sprinkle the floor occasionally, and let 

 them have the night air until cold freezing weather. 

 The pores of these jars are filled with a salt solution, 

 as they come from the kiln, then the inside coated with 

 a common thick limewash . The salt solution in the 

 pores is intended to absorb the moisture and thus to 

 produce a cool and even temperature inside the jar, and 



the lime is to prevent mould. These jars can be used 

 again from year to year, only they should be first 

 soaked in strong brine and then whitewashed inside, 

 before they are filled again with grapes." If grapes 

 will keep so easily, and in as fine condition as we have 

 seen them last January (1875), these jars are really a 

 valuable novelty. [We have none of these jars for sale, 

 nor do we know where they can be obtained, except, 

 perhaps, from the manulacturer.] 



The best mode of preserving the delicious juice of the 

 grape, with its delightfully nutritious constituents, in 

 a concentrated and almost imperishable form, is by 



WINE MAKING. 



" Wine is like rain tailing on duty ground, it augments dirt j 

 on good soil, it becomes a blessing." Mirza Shaffy. 



We have been urged to embody in this Manual a 

 chapter upon this subject, and we intended to do so, 

 but the very attempt to write it only proved to us most 

 conclusively, that it is impossible to furnish, within 

 the limited scope of this Catalogue, anything that 

 would be valuable, either as a guide to the inexperi- 

 enced, or as a vade mecum to the wine-maker. 



The intelligent farmer and amateur grape grower 

 who desires to transform his surplus fruit into that in- 

 nocent, health-giving beverage, "Wine," we refer to 

 RemeUri>s Wine Makers Manual, and Husmann's Grapes 

 and Wine. The professional, experienced vintner will 

 not look to this little Manual for information, and those 

 grape growers who desire to make wine on a large 

 scale , without possessing themselves sufficient knowl- 

 edge for doing it we can only advise to engage some 

 experienced man who knows how to treat wines; and 

 there are already plenty of them in this country. It 

 need not be a Professor of Chemistry, who may only 

 adulterate the wines by his scientific manipulations; on 

 the contrary, we would prefer a plain " wine cooper," 

 one wlio is used to attend to wines himself from his 

 youth, to watch them with the care and cheerfulness of 

 a mother to her infant, and who will not permit your 

 wines to leave his nursing hands before they are and 

 ivill keep clear and perfect, racking off and filling up 

 whenever required, and keeping not merely your casks 

 and bottles, but every part and corner of your cellars 

 most admirably clean. 



If you should say that you cannot afford to keep such 

 a man, then, we say, you cannot afford to build cellars 

 either; and you would do best to associate for the pur- 

 pose with one or more ol your neighbor grape growers. 

 But if you have your own cellars and plenty of grapes, 

 you can certainly afford to pay such a man, and to pay 

 him well, at least until you or your sons have learned 

 from him. 



Then only shall we be able to produce the Txst, to es- 

 tablish a reputation for American wines equal to those 

 of Europe, and to compete with them; then only shall 

 we be able to provide for ourselves and lor the people 

 of this continent, that healthy and delicious beverage, 

 known lor all times to be the promoter of civilization; 

 excessive whisky drinking will gradually vanish; our 

 national temperament will be more joyous and happy, 

 and grape growing permanently profitable. 



