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On the Cultivation of the Vine , 
1st; The green stalk of the grapes turns brown, 
3d, The grapes become pendulous. 
8d, The stones of the grapes lose their hardness ; the 
pellicle becomes thin and transparent, as is observed by 
Olivier de Serres. 
4th, The clusters and grapes can be easily detached 
from the twigs. 
5th, The juice of the grapes is savoury, sweet, thick, 
and viscid. 
6th, The stones of the grapes are free from any gluti- 
nous substance, according to the observation of Olivier 
de Serres. 
The fall of the leaves announces rather the return of 
winter than the maturity of the grapes ; this sign, there- 
fore, is considered as very uncertain, as well as putridi- 
ty, which a thousand causes may occasion, none of them 
sufficient to enable us to deduce from them a proof of ma- 
turity. When the frost, however, makes the leaves 
to fall, the vintage ought not to be longer deferred, 
because the grapes are then susceptible of no fur- 
ther maturity. Their remaining on the vine could tend 
only to promote putrefaction. 
u In 1769, the grapes, still green,” says Rozier, 
a were surprised by the frost on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of 
October. They gained nothing more by remaining on 
the vines till the end of the month ; and the wine was 
acid and of a bad colour. 
There are some qualities in wine which cannot be ob- 
tained but by suffering the grapes to dry on the twigs. 
Thus, at Rivesaltes, and in the islands of Candia and 
Cyprus, the grapes are suffered to remain exposed to the 
winds before they are cut. The grapes which furnish to- 
kay are dried ; and the same process is employed for 
some of the sweet wines of Italy. The wines of Ar- 
bois, and of Chateau- Chalons, in Franche- Comte, are 
