119 



(^iLality of the Corks, 



They sliould be round, new, and very sound; round, that they may 

 fill up the neck compactly ; new, to give no ill taste to the wine ; and 

 very sound to prevent breaking as much as possible. They should 

 be elastic ; a stiff cork will break the neck of the bottle, or else does 

 not fit well. In France there is a trade carried on in old corks by 

 houses that consume a great number ; they are re-peeled and offered 

 for Bale, but may be known by the dirty brown colour of the pores ; the 

 ne\v cork is always of a reddish brown in the streaks. These fur- 

 bished corks are only fit for bottles that are to be used immediateh' 

 The corks are driven in with a wooden mallet. 



0/ Securing the Corks. 



Unless the corks are waxed, if kept any time, the wood-lice gnaw 

 them, or they rot from the damp, and the liquor leaks out. The best 

 wax is made of the following articles and in the following proportions 

 for 300 bottles :~21bs. rosin and Mb. of Burgundy pitch, ilb. of yellow- 

 bees wax, and a small sprinkling of red mastic, melted together over 

 the fire, and taken off as soon as the scum rises, properly stirred and 

 incorporated, and put back on the fire to melt for use. Tallow may 

 be substituted for bees wax, but in smaller quantity ; too much tal- 

 low and the wax will not harden ; too little wax or tallow, or none, 

 and it will not cleave. The neck of the corked bottle is plunged into 

 this liquid for about two thirds of an inch, and then turned up to harden. 



Of Piling the Bottles. 



The bottles must be laid, so that the deposit may fall on ono 

 side of the bottle : and the cork be kept constantly moist. The 

 ground should be perfectly level and well sanded. The bottles are 

 ranged side by side, with some scantling under the necks to sup- 

 port them ; a layer of sand an inch or an inch and a quarter deep 

 must be strewn over the first range of bottles before a second can 

 be piled upon them ; and so on with every range. The piles are 

 made a yard high ; they may be laid in the middle of the cellar if with 

 the .precaution adopted in the department of Marne, of interposing a 

 thin scantling or frame work of lathes, supported at the ends. The 

 upright bits to which the horizontal pieces are fastened, sustain tlie 

 n'ia,ss and give strength to the pile. 



