656 



WINE-MAKING AND GRAPE-GROWING. 



given to analysis, and a studio for photography, also form 

 part of the station. In the midst of all the buildings is 

 a large hall occupied by the museum and the library. 



A meteorological observatory forms an indispensable 

 complement to the various laboratories. 



The station is situated on a low hill in the center of a 

 vineyard of about 15 acres, which it uses for experi- 

 ments. About 70 acres, planted in vines and situated 

 near Villefranche, also belong to the station. Experi- 

 ments with fertilizers are being carried on, and 20 acres 

 of the poorest land have been reserved for this purpose. 

 On another plot over 500 varieties have been set out. 



Among the numerous questions which it is proposed to 

 study in this station, pathological agriculture occupies 

 one of the principal places, and in this vast branch the 

 entomological division will be the object of particular 

 attention. 



Tc complete the utility of the station, Mr. Vermorel 

 proposes soon to open a winter course on the plan of the 

 many now existing in Germany. 



A review, published every three months, gives an ac- 

 count of the work in the laboratory and experimental 

 fields. 



Although just established, the station at Villefranche 

 has already shown its utility, which will increase from 

 day to day. Three bulletins have appeared, giving ac- 

 counts of the interesting work undertaken. All these 

 experiments have a great practical value, this being par- 

 ticularly the aim of the station, although a large space 

 is reserved to purely scientific questions. Among others 

 we cite complete studies on the cochylis ; the pearly 

 glands of the vine ; comparative experiments on the 

 treatment of anthracnose ; a new parasite of the cochy- 

 lis ; destruction of the white worms. 



It remains for us to add, that the disinterested ex- 

 ample of Mr. Vermorel is bearing fruit, and that soon, 

 in various parts of France, similar stations will be 

 erected. All those who undertake this work will render 

 a service to the State of the greatest importance — 

 Progres Agricole el Viticole. 



WINE-MAKING AND GRAPE-GROWING. 



AN ACCOUNT OF METHODS IN THE FAMOUS KEUKA LAKE REGION OF WESTERN NEW YORK, BY THE 

 SECRETARY OF THE PLEASANT VALLEY WINE COMPANY. 



j^Sn\OW shall we make wine from 

 grapes ? That depends entirely 

 upon what kind of wine you wish 

 to make. If it is a white wine, 

 ^ first secure good ripe grapes, 

 look them over carefully, remove 

 all rotten, green or other imper- 

 fect berries, put them through 

 any grinder or machine that will simply break the 

 skins, put them in any kind of a press, and press 

 them sufficiently to express the must. Put this 

 must, or pure juice, into a clean cask, and into the 

 bung place a syphon that empties into a tub or pail 

 of water, and let the wine ferment. This syphon 

 excludes the air and at the same time allows the 

 gases produced by fermentation to escape. When 

 fermentation has ceased, put a loose bung in the 

 place of the syphon, and let it rest until the wine 

 becomes clear, then draw it off into another cask 

 that is perfectly clean and sweet, fill it full, bung it 

 up and wait; time will do all the rest. In about 

 two or three years you may go into your cellars and 

 be sure of finding a good, pure, wholesome wine. 



The making of champagne is more complicated, and 

 we would advise anyone going into this business to en- 

 gage the services of an expert. However, a general out- 

 line of its manipulations may be interesting. The wine 

 which has been selected for this purpose, the product 

 of many vineyards and many varieties, is carefully 

 blended, and just here great skill is required that this 



blend may be so made that no particular flavor of either 

 is prominent, but that the whole shall bring out that 

 peculiarly fine flavor found only in first-class champagne. 



Now this wine is ready for bottling, which is done 

 during the warm weather of spring or early summer, 

 when it undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle. 

 Here another test of skill is required. Should there be 

 too much saccharine matter left in the wine, the fermen- 

 tation will be so strong that the bottles will break and the 

 whole be a loss ; should there not be enough, there will 

 be too little fermentation so that the wine will have very 

 little effervescence, and be flat and insipid. But should 

 this critical period be successfully passed and the fer- 

 mentation be just right, it is then put down into deep 

 vaults where it remains from two to three years, until 

 the wine has become thoroughly ripened. At this time 

 the wine has the sediment which was deposited during 

 the fermentation (as no fermentation can exist without 

 producing a sediment). It is then placed upon racks, 

 where it is shaken twice each day from three to five 

 weeks, until the sediment is entirely deposited upon the 

 cork. It is then taken, tipped downward, to the finish- 

 ing room where its first cork is extracted, and with it the 

 sediment in this process, and part of the wine is lost. 

 This is what is called disgorging. It then receives a 

 small dose of syrup, made of pure sugar crystals, dis- 

 solved in old wine. It is then re-corked, with as fine a 

 cork as can be found, costing from five to eight cents 

 each, and after it has been tied down, wired, labeled, 

 capped, etc., it is ready for shipping. During this pro- 

 cess each bottle is separately handled from two to three 

 hundred times, and the result is a wine fit for the gods. 



