.-/^' 



347 



CULTIVATION of the VINE. 



ftandiii;'- fo hiph, that the wood need not touch the bottom 



of it, when you put large wood under It to make it boil 

 faft; for if at any time your wood touches the bottom of 

 your kettle or copper, the wine will be burned, which wdl 

 fpoll it; as the fcum riles skim it off, and gently raifeyour 

 fire by How degreed, flirring your muft often from the 

 •bottom, and take off the fcum as it rifes, till all be dear, 

 than raife your fire by larger wood, and make it boil fafter 

 and failer, as it fettles down or boils away, till one half 

 be confumcd, being always careful and upon the watch 

 that none of the wood touches the bottom of the copper; 

 the muft thus boiled away is called defrutum, or the rob 

 of grapes. If you negled to raife the fcdiment from the 

 bottom of the copper, it will burn and fpoil the wine, for 



it turns bitter. 



And now once for all I muft caution every one, who at- 

 tempts to make wine, to be ftridly careful to have all the 

 veffels and inftruments made ufe of in this work, per- 

 fedly clean and fweet ; for if they have any four, unfavoury 

 or offenfive fmell, they will communicate it to the muft 

 and fpoil the wine; and every thing that has an offenfive 

 or difagreeable fmell, muft be removed from the place 

 where wine is made, and from the cellars where it is kept ; 

 the cellar ought to be dry and warm; for damps or wet 



hurt wines exceedingly. It muft alfo be free from mufti- 



nefs, and in good v^reather, the windows next the fouth and 



weft muft be opened, to admit the warm dry air, which 



will prevent mufti ncfs and dangerous damps. 



Hogflieads well bound with iron are the only fafe cafks 

 for wine, if you truft to old wine pipes, or to hoglheads 

 with wooden hoops, it ia ten to one but they deceive you; 

 they conflantly want repairing every year, but iron bound 

 calks will hold many years without any expence at all, fo 

 that in three years time they become by much the cheapeft 

 caflis; I mean for ftanding cafks, out of which the wine is 

 racked into other cafks for fale; but then as foon as they are 

 empty, the lees muft be taken out and faved for diftilUng 



f into 



