PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 87 



thoug-ht excellent, until he told them it was made of rhubarb (pie plant) 

 stalks. 



Dr. Trimble. — I like this champag-ne, but I am afraid it will not meet 

 with favor among those who drink the most of the article sold in this city 

 under that name. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — I think the samples shown to-day prove that 

 America is capable of producing- its own wine, and that we are really inde- 

 pendent of the wine countries of Europe; and as Americans we oug'ht to 

 encourag-e American productions. 



Mr. L. A. Roberts read a letter from a friend in California who has twenty- 

 seven acres of vines, planted on a gravelly soil, which he declares are all 

 foreign varieties, and that the Isabella, Diana and Catawba grapes are of 

 no account in California; but, with the sorts they have there, he believes 

 that they can make just as good wine as can be made in Europe, and more 

 to tiie acre, the soil being more productive. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The Catawba grape wine, made by John L. Mottier, 

 of Cincinnati, is a good, pure, wholesome wine, and, though pretty acid, it is 

 a very pleasant one, and never produces heaviness nor headache, and a 

 person would have to drink a great deal of it to produce intoxication. It 

 is an excellent, light, pure grape juice wine. 



Prof. Mapcs. — In all situations where the Catawba fully ripens it makes 

 a ^-ery good wine. 



Mr. R. G. Pardee. — I find that it is not strong enough to keep. It turned 

 to vinegar in a moderately warm room in my house. 



Prof. Mapes gave a very interesting history of the manufacture of spu- 

 rious wines and liquors, and how any particular flavor can be obtained by 

 the aid of fusil oil, which is a product obtained by distillers of grain, by 

 mixing it with the proper acid. Tannic acid and fusil oil, for instance, 

 give the exact flavor of strawberries. The production of this fusil oil has 

 become an extensive branch of trade, and it is so cheap that it is used to 

 adulterate dearer oils, and it is certainly very largely used by manufac- 

 turers of brandy and other liquors, and " flavoring extracts," such as soda 

 drinkers use. It is anything but wholesome. An immense quantity of 

 " first rate old Bourbon whisky " is made of the newest kind of whisky, 

 rectified and doctored with fusil oil. 



Brandy contains fusil oil naturally, and some of it not in sufficient 

 quantity to be deleterious when the brandy becomes aged. But we get 

 very little pure brandy here, as the French distillers understand how to 

 mix whisky and New England rum, deodorized by charcoal, with a little 

 brandy and fusil oil to give it the right flavor, and color it with caramel. 



The only distilled liquor free from fusil oil is what is called pure spirit, 

 which has been passed through charcoal till it loses all color and odor, and 

 nearly all taste. Charcoal or clay will deodorize all fruit and render it 

 tasteless. 



Mr. Andrew S. Fuller. — How little we know as yet about grapes. We do 

 not know why the Isabella and others of those esteemed good here do not 

 do well in California, and why the foreign sorts do, which we cannot grow 

 here, except in glass houses. If we grow the Isabella under glass, we 

 produce great bunches and large berries, with very thick, tough skins and 



