and the Method of malcing Wines . 853 
ancients were accustomed to boil their must : by these 
means they caused the supernatant water to evaporate, 
and brought back the liquor to the proper degree of 
thickness. This process, always advantageous in the 
northern countries, and in general wherever the season 
has been rainy, is still practised. Maupin has even contri- 
buted to make this method be more adopted, in proving, 
by numerous experiments, that it may be used with ad- 
vantage in almost all the wine countries. It however ap- 
pears to be useless in warm climates ; it is not applica- 
ble but in cases when the season having been rainy, has 
not permitted the grapes to attain to the proper degree of 
maturity, or when the vintage has taken place during wet 
or foggy weather. 
There are some countries where baked plaster is mix- 
ed with the grapes to absorb the excess of humidity they 
may contain. The custom established in other places of 
drying the grapes before they are fermented is founded 
on the same principle. All these processes tend in an 
essential manner to remove the humidity with which the 
grapes may be impregnated, and to present a thicker 
juice to fermentation. 
3d, The juice of ripe grapes contains tartar, which 
may be shown in it merely by concentrating the liquor, 
as we have observed : but verjuice furnishes a still great- 
er quantity ; and it is generally true that grapes give less 
tartar the more sugar they contain. 
The marquis de Bouillon extracted from 2} wine pints 
of must about 10 dwts. of sugar and 11 dwt. of tartar. 
It appears from the experiments of the same chemist, 
that tartar as well as sugar concurs to facilitate the for- 
mation of alcohol. To obtain three times as much ardent 
spirit, nothing is necessary but to increase the propor- 
tion of the tartar and the sugar. 
The same chemist has also proved that must deprived 
Vol, i. y y 
