259 



CULTIVATION of the VINE. 



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a fecond keg well, and draw it ofF, and ftop all clofe, and 

 let it ftand till the next winter; if it then be fine, bottle it; 

 if not fine it down, and then bottle it for ufe : If, at the 

 fecond racking, you find it thin and weak, add fome 



brandy and old wine to it. , r u 



c!d Let white grapes hang on the vine a month attcr the 

 vintar^e is over, let others hang till they Ihrivel, make trial 

 of thefe at different times ; let them be maflaed as much as 

 poffible without breaking the grape ftones, let them ftand 

 in the murk two, three, or four days, well covered with 

 a blanket three or four double, then dram ofFthewme, 

 and mafti the Ikins very well over a cullender the fecond 

 time; then flrain out the ftones, wafliing the fkins very 

 well with the wine, till all the pulp, that fticks to the m- 

 fide of the fkins, be got off, fill your keg with this wine 

 three-fourths, and fill up the reft with good old wine, flop 

 up the bung, leaving the vent hole open till the fecond 

 fermentation is over, then ftop the vent hole, and let it 

 ftand till February: T think this wine will be good; but 

 then in all thefe cafes the vent hole muft now and then be 

 iuft opened, to let out any generated air, left the keg be 

 in danger of burfting. As foon as the air puffs out ftop it 

 again, that as little air as poffible, may get in. 



By varying thefe experiments, you may at laft conie at 

 the moft perfed way of making, fermenting and preterv- 



ing of wines : It is now faid, that wines cannot be preferved 





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without brandy, how then did the ancients preferve them? 

 I think they may be preferved pure and perfed by their 

 own ftrength, when a vineyard comes to a proper age 

 (which I will fuppofe to begin at twenty, and io laft till 

 feventy or eighty) if the grapes are fufFered to hang on 

 the vines till they are perfedly ripe; but people, partly 

 from a fondnefs of getting done before their neighbours, 

 and partly from a defire of making a little more wine, and 

 fome from the apprehcnfions of a rainy feafon, hurry on 

 this work before its time, and often, very often, become 

 great fufi'erers by it. 





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