lOi) 



rerii'ientaLioji. If the crop is not as sugary a-s usual, owiiig lo a col«i 

 summer, a half pound of brown sugar must be allowed for every ten 

 barrow-fulls of grapes. The must also may be scented with the young 

 sprouts of peach or almond trees, and some few handfulls of dried 

 elder-flowers. As soon as ever the vat is filled, the whole mass of 

 juice must bo stirred up briskly, and covered down with a lid or cover, 

 or boards, laid over it. 



In a few hours the fermentation is in full train ; but sometimes 

 it is delayed for several days for want of the contact of the external 

 air. When fermentation begins, the substances become troubled, dis- 

 placed, and effervescent, as if about to separate. The heat rises to 

 20^ of Reaumur ; the hquid swells to a greater volume ; then, much 

 carbonic acid gas is evolved, and the wine is made. That gas once 

 let loose, the stir is appeased, the liquid falls, grows cold, the foreign 

 substances precipitate, and the wine becomes a limpid fluid. 



All enliffhtened practice proves that air is a veliicle necessary and 

 favorable to fermentation ; and that if preserved from the contact of 

 the air the must can be long kept from change or alteration. But the 

 experiments of some chemists prove that although the must in tight 

 vessels goes very slowly through the process of change, it never- 

 theless does become wine, and that of a very rich kind. From which 

 arises two doctrines concerning the making of %vine, one that it should 

 ferment quick, the other that it should ferment sloic ; the one decla- 

 ring that atmospheric air aids the process and assists in carrying off 

 the gaseous matters which must disengage themselves from the hquor. 

 to perfect it into wine ; the other insisting that wine fermented be- 

 yond the contact of the air is richer, with more bouquet and more 

 alcohol, which the carbonic acid gas carries away where the fermenta- 

 tion is open. The difference of these two parties is mostly in words ; 

 und the gordian knot is easily unloosed. To make good wine there 

 is one ferment with agitation required, which, to be complete must go 

 on quickly ; and needs the contact of the air to evolve it thoroughly. 

 The term of this ferment is the sinking of the scum or head. Theji 

 comes on the second fejpient, which is slow and progressive. This is 

 the time to close the vats so close as only to leave issues for the 

 carbonic acid gas to escape. 



Modes of making wine differ according to the quality or species of 

 the grape, the nature of the soil of the vineyard, the temperature the 

 latter enjoys, and even v\'e may say, according to the notions of the 

 vintner. In some districts the wine only remains in the vats from 

 3G to 40 hours ; in the neighbourhood of Lyons, it is left from 6 to 

 S <lays at most : in many places the term is usually from 12 to 20 days : 



