74 CULTIVATION 



and a half tuns! Surpassing even the pet vine of 

 Queen Victoria. 



BLACKBERRY WINE. 



It is surprising so few people are aware that a 

 fruit found so common in our fields and hedges, is 

 capable of affording wine of most excellent quality, 

 and very medicinal. Both the berry and the root 

 of this bramble, are found to be useful in disorders 

 of the stomach and bowels, and have been used 

 with great advantage. There are two kinds which 

 are common, and both may be used for wine, but 

 the fruit which grows on prickly stalks from three 

 to six feet high is the best, and contains a sub-acid 

 agreeable to the taste. 



To make this wine, press out the juice through a 

 coarse cloth or strainer, and to each gallon before it 

 is fermented, add one quart of water and about 

 three pounds of good sugar, white or brown, (white 

 is preferable,) and stir it together until the sugar is 

 dissolved. Then put it into a clean keg or barrel, 

 and set it in a cool place with the bung open; and 

 it will ferment powerfully for several weeks, accord- 

 ing to the heat of the weather. The lees will at 

 length settle to the bottom, and when it is clear, it 

 should be carefully drawn off into another cask, or 

 other vessel, or can be bottled for use. Do not put 

 the liquor at first into a jiAg for fermentation, as it 

 would then be impossible to turn it off' from the 

 lees without disturbing the whole, and the wine 



