OF THE VINE. 37 



sugar and spirits. He could have safely omitted 

 the spirits, for the Juice of immature grapes with 

 sufficient sugar will produce tolerably fair wine. 

 In wine countries, the juice is often boiled down 

 till its fermenting quality is destroyed, and its 

 saccharine matter nearly doubled. This is also 

 sometimes mixed with other wines to give them 

 body and strength. To make a lively sparklinsf 

 wine, it should be bottled before it has quite ceased 

 fermenting, and a small piece of rock candy put 

 into each bottle, will increase its briskness. In all 

 wines, ag'e adds to their soundness and value; and so 

 highly is this prized, that in some of the wine- 

 cellars of the Germans, it is found more than one 

 hundred years old. The Imperial Tokay, has its 

 name from a town in Hungary in which it is made, 

 and it is sometimes sold in Europe at three or four 

 dollars per bottle. It is made by mixing with their 

 common grapes, a portion of luscious, half-dried, 

 shriveled grapes; the latter being absolutely neces- 

 sary to constitute its peculiar quality. No art is 

 used to fine this wine or to preserve it, and it soon 

 finds its way into the cellars, or stomachs of the 

 nobility. 



FINING WINE. 



Occasionally it occurs that in the process of 

 fermenting, the wine does not settle, and become 

 entirely clear after racking, and requires some sub- 

 stance to precipitate the lees. This can be accom- 



