8^8 
On the Cultivation of the Vine , 
principle, that when the must is put into close vessels the 
carbonic acid will find obstacles to its volatilisation : it 
will be forced to remain interposed in the liquid ; it will 
foe dissolved there in part, and, making a continual effort 
against the liquid, and each of the parts of which it is 
composed, it will slacken and extinguish almost com- 
pletely, the act of fermentation. 
That fermentation therefore may be established, and 
pass through all its periods in a speedy and regular man- 
ner, there must be a free communication between the 
fermenting mass paid the atmospheric air. The principles 
which are then disengaged by the process of fermenta- 
tion easily enter the atmosphere, which serves them as a 
vehicle, and the fermenting mass from that moment may, 
without any obstacle, experience movements of dilatation 
and expansion. 
If wine fermented in close vessels is more generous 
and more agreeable to the taste, the reason is, that it has 
retained the aroma and the alcohol, which are in part 
lost in fermentation that takes place in the open air ; for, 
besides their being dissipated by the heat, the carbonic 
acid carries them to a state of absolute solution, as we 
shall show hereafter. 
The free contact of the atmospheric air accelerates 
fermentation, and occasions a great loss of principles in 
the alcohol and aroma; while, on the other hand, the 
withdrawing of that contact slackens the movement, 
threatens explosion and rupture, and the fermentation re- 
quires a long time to he complete. There are therefore 
advantages and disadvantages on both sides ; but perhaps 
it might be possible to combine these two methods with 
so much success as to remove all their disadvantages. 
This, no doubt, would be the highest point of vinifica- 
tion. W e shall see hereafter that some processes practisedi 
in different countries, either for making brisk wines, or 
