^55 



CULTIVATION of thk VINE. 



tremely curious in thefe refpedb; for their prime and 

 moft delicate wines, the grapes are fufFered to continue ou 

 the vines till they are half dried by the heat of the fun, 

 and if the fun's heat fliould not prove fufficient, they are 

 dried by the gentle heat of a furnace. Wines that arc 

 thin may be improved by freezing, by this means the wa- 

 try parts adhere to the cafl?:, and the ftrong fpirituous parts 

 are left in a body, in the middle of the caffc, and being 

 drawn off by thcmfelves, prove ftrong and good, and will 



keep well. 



Hof, 



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the fubje£t; fee alf) Dr. Shawns comment oii Stabl. 



If thefe be the real principles, and fome of the eflential 

 conftituent parts of the grape, or if a proportionable quan- 

 tity of nitre be allowed to come into the compofition, 

 which might perhaps be difcovered by an accurate ana- 

 lyfis, it will not be hard to account for the fermentation; 

 heat and air both are neceffary to it; now thefe principles 

 whilft confined to the grape, are fo difpofed by the wife 

 Author of Nature as to be confined diftindly in their pro- 

 per cells or tubical ramufculi, and they are fo clofely fe- 

 cured by the covering of a fkin, of fuch a compad: tex- 

 ture, like that of bladders of feveral kinds, that the air 

 cannot come at them, but they are effe£lually fecured 

 againft the impreffions of it; if this, or fomething like 



this be the cafe, then thefe principles remain in a neutral 



or inadive fiate, whilft thus confined to the fruit, but 

 when the fruit comes to^ be maftied, and thefe principles 

 come in contaft of each other, and are expofed to the warm 

 air^ which is of a very active and elaftlc nature, the whole 

 body, by degrees, is put into motion, the motion begets 

 heat, and the heat increafes the motion, (this heat and the 

 increafe of it is plainly difcernable by the touch, *till it 

 increafes to fuch a degree, as according to Bocrhaave^ is 

 neceflary to a full fermentation. The heat then increafing 

 to a farther height, the fermentation gradually abates, and 

 thus ends the firft fermentation : By this operation a fpirit 



is generated, and the mild, foft, lufcious juice of the grape, 



which 



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