W6 
On the Cultivation of the Vine , 
dent that wine may be carried to any degree of spirituosity 
required, whatever may he the primitive quality of the 
must, by adding to it more or less sugar. 
Rosier has proved, and the same result may be obtain- 
ed by calculating the experiments of Bullion, that the 
value of the produce of the fermentation is very far supe- 
rior to the price of the matters employed ; so that these 
processes may be presented as objects of economy and 
matter of speculation. 
It is possible also to correct the quality of the grapes 
by other means, which are daily practised. A portion 
of the must is boiled in a kettle ; it is concentrated to one- 
half, and then poured into a vat : by this method the 
aqueous portion is in part dissipated, and the portion of su- 
gar being then less diluted, the fermentation proceeds with 
more regularity, and the produce is more generous. This 
process, almost always useful in the north, cannot be 
employed in the south, but when the season has been 
rainy or when the grapes have not been sufficiently ripe. 
The same end may be attained by drying the grapes in 
the sun, or exposing them for the same purpose in stoves, 
as is practised in some wine countries. 
It is perhaps for the same reason, always with a view 
to absorb the moisture, that plaster is sometimes put into 
the vat, as was practised by the ancients. 
It sometimes happens that the must is both too thick 
and too saccharine : in that case the fermentation is al- 
ways slow and imperfect; the wines are sweet, luscious, 
and thick ; and it is not till after remaining a long time 
in the bottles that it becomes clear, loses its disagreeable 
thickness, and only exhibits good qualities. The great- 
er part of the white Spanish wines are in this situation,, 
This quality of wine has however its partisans, and there 
are some countries where the must is concentrated for 
that purpose, in others the grapes are dried in the sun or 
