191 
and the Method of making Wines . 
good scissars. In the Pays de Vaud the grapes are de- 
tached by means of the nail, in Champagne a pruning- 
knife is employed : hut the two last methods are attend- 
ed with the inconveniency of shaking the stem. 
6th, No grapes ought to be cut but those sound and 
ripe : those which are putrid ought to be rejected, and 
those still green must be left on the twigs. 
In all places where the cultivators are desirous to ob- 
tain wines of a good quality, the grapes are collected at 
two or three different times. In general, the first vat-full 
of juice is always the best. There are some countries, 
however, where the grapes are almost collected without 
distinction, and at one time ; the juice is expressed with- 
out picking, but the wines are very inferior to what they 
might be, if more care were employed in the operations 
of the vintage. 
When the grapes are to be picked, the following rules 
may be observed : To cut only those clusters which are 
best exposed, those the grapes of which are equally large 
and coloured ; to reject all those which have been shel- 
tered, and near the ground ; and to prefer those which 
have ripened at the bottom of the vines. 
In the vineyards which furnish the different kinds of 
Bourdeaux wine, the grapes are carefully picked 5 but 
the method of picking the red grapes differs from that 
employed for picking the white : in picking the white, ^ 
neither the putrid nor the green grapes are collected ; in 
regard to the white, the putrid and the ripest are prefer- 
red, and the picking is not begun till a great many of the 
grapes have become putrid. This operation is so minute 
in certain districts, such as Sainte- Croix, Loussiac, &c. 
that the vintage there continues two months. In Me doc 
the operation of picking is performed twice for the red 
wines ; at Lagnon it is performed three or four times ; 
* This word probably should be red, Ed, 
