and the Method of making Wines . &71 
the ardent sun for three days, turning them three times 
every day, and that on the fourth they were expressed. 
In Spain, particularly in the environs of St. Luear, the 
grapes are left exposed for two days to the full ardour of 
the sun. 
In Lorraine, part of Italy, Calabria, and the island of 
Cyprus, the grapes are dried before they are expressed. 
It is in particular when white sweet wines are to be made 
that the grapes are dried, to thicken the juice, and there- 
by to moderate the fermentation. 
It appears that the ancients were acquainted not only 
with the art of drying the grapes in the sun, but even that 
they were not ignorant of the process employed to boil 
and concentrate the must ; on which account they dis- 
tinguished wines into three kinds, passum , defputum , and 
sap a. The first was made from grapes dried in the sun ; 
the second was obtained by reducing the must one-half 
by the means of heat ; and the third, from must so con- 
centrated that there remained no more of it than a third 
or a fourth. For very interesting details respecting these 
operations the reader may consult Pliny and Dioscori- 
des. These methods are still used at present, and we 
shall show, when we come to speak of fermentation, that 
it may be directed and managed in an advantageous man- 
ner by inspissating a portion of must, and afterwards 
mixing it with the remainder of the mass; we shall 
show also that this is an infallible method for giving to 
all wines a degree of strength to which the greater part 
of them cannot otherwise attain. 
Agriculturists were long divided in regard to the ques- 
tion, whether it is most advantageous to free the grapes 
from the stalks or not ? Each of these methods has its 
partisans, and writers of merit may be quoted who have 
supported both. In my opinion, in this as well as in other 
cases, both parties have been too exclusive, and by bring- 
