CHAPTER XI. 



OF FLma 



Wincg, whicli are not clear after racking, contain a sediment of such 

 divisibility, that it can only be removed by fining, and a secondracking. 



The most usual substances employed for this purpose, are isinglass 

 and whites of eggs. 



Isinglass must be unrolled, shred thin, and soaked in wine. It swells, 

 softens, and then becomes a viscous jelly, which must be poured into 

 the cask. The wine should be well beaten with a whisk, and allowed 

 to rest. The quantity of isinglass used, is about a half ounce to every 

 250 or 300 gallons of wane. 



Whites of eggs are preferred in the South to fish-glue } they arc 

 well beaten with wine, and poured into the cask, which is then stirred 

 either with a whisk, made of split wood, or made of tufts of horse 

 hair fixed to an iron handle. The wijie is left to rest for ten days or 

 a fortnight, and then racked in a North wind. From six to ten eggs 

 are required for every 25 gallons of wine, according to the paleness or 

 depth of the colour. Some farmers make use of gum arable in pow- 

 der; others of hartshorn shavings, calcined ground flints, starch, rice, 

 milk, beech-wood Chips boiled in water, and sun or oven-dried. But, 

 none of these substances produce as well or as quickly the results 

 obtained by fish-glue or whites of eggs. 



There is a reddish-brown powder which is sold at a very high price, 

 for the clarifying of wines; but it is nothing more than dried blood. 

 It only acts through the albumen contained in blood ; and a couple 

 of eggs would have the same efficacy, without altering the bouquet of 

 the fine %vines, by the fetid, glue-like odour of the dissolved dried 

 blood. The gelatine of bones is still worse than blood. Common 

 and new wines lose a portion of their rawness by fining ; good wines 

 require more subtilty of relish and appearance. 



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