141 The Process followed at Montpellier in 
fill up all the vacuities and render the mass as compact 
as possible. The coverings of these vats are carefully 
fastened down, and they are preserved for use in a dry 
cool place. 
These husks are not always of the same quality: when 
the grapes contain little of the saccharine matter, when 
the season has been rainy, the fermentation incomplete, 
or when the wine is not generous, the husks are attended 
with several faults. 1. They are difficult to be preserv- 
ed, and there is great danger of their soon being spoiled. 
2. They produce very little effect, cannot be easily heat- 
ed, send forth very little of the acetous odour, and make 
the plates of copper sweat without showing efflorescence 
on their surface. Independently of the nature of the 
grapes and the state of the wine, the quality of the husks 
varies also according as they have been expressed with 
more or less care. Husks which have not been much 
pressed, produce a far greater effect than those which 
have been dried. To explain their different effects, it 
will be sufficient to observe that their action is propor- 
tioned to the quantity of wine they retain, as it is that 
liquor alone which can pass to the state of vinegar. 
When the husks therefore are destined for a verdigrise 
manufactory, care must be taken to express them only 
weakly, in order to preserve more of their acidifiable 
principle. 
When a sufficient quantity of copper and of husks has 
been provided, nothing remains but to proceed to the 
operations, which are gei*erally performed in cellars. 
They may be performed also on a ground floor if it be 
somewhat damp, if the temperature be subject to little 
variation, and if there be not too much light. The first 
operation is to make the husks ferment, which is called 
avina . For that purpose one of the vats is opened, and 
the husks are put into two others of equal size, taking 
