age. In Italy, they are found over-topping the tallest elm and poplar trees ; and the wood of very old ones 
is frequently of size enough for being sawn into planks. A vine, trained against a row of houses at Nor- 
thallerton, covered, in 1785, one hundred and thirty-seven square yards, and measured four feet in circum- 
ference : it was then above one hundred years old, but is now dead. That at Hampton Court, nearly of the 
same age, covers above one hundred and sixteen square yards : it is of the red Hamburgh sort, and is a 
most productive bearer, having seldom fewer than 2,000 clusters upon it every season. In the year 1816, 
there were at least 2,240 averaging one pound each, so that the whole crop weighed a ton, and, merely as 
an article of commerce, was worth upwards of £400. 
Raisins or dried grapes, are prepared either by cutting the stalks of the bunches half through, and 
leaving them suspended on the vine, till they become sufficiently dry ; or by gathering the grapes when they 
are fully ripe, and dipping them in a ley of the burnt tendrils, to which is added a small portion of slaked 
lime, and afterwards exposing them to the sun to dry. About 8,000 tons of raisins are annually imported 
into England; and a considerable quantity of undried grapes are also imported, principally from Portugal, 
in jars, among saw-dust. Currants, of which about 6,000 tons are annually imported into this country, are 
small dried grapes, principally grown in the Ionian islands. 
The juice of the grape consists of water, sugar, mucilage, jelly, albumen, gluten, super-tartrate of potass 
and the tartaric, citric, and malic acids. These principles left to themselves for a short time in a medium 
temperature, undergo remarkable changes; their elements assume a new arrangement, and the principal 
compounds which are formed are wine and acetic acid. 
Wine. — When the fruit is fully ripe, it is gathered for the manufacture of wine, and immediately sub- 
jected to the press, in order to separate the juice from the skin and seeds. In some places, however, the 
grapes are permitted to remain on the vines till they wither, or are gathered and dried in the sun, before 
they are pressed. Thus, the celebrated Tokay wine is made of dried fruit, as are many of the luscious wines 
of Italy. Sometimes the juice is separated by treading the grapes with the feet, in perforated tubs or baskets 
placed over the vat destined to receive the must. The expressed juice, or must, as it is called, is then put 
into a proper vessel or vat, and exposed to a temperature of at least 55 degrees, to enable it to commence 
the fermentative process. In a short time the liquor becomes turbid, an intestine motion is excited in it, its 
temperature increases, the skins, seeds, and other impurities rise to the surface, and a quantity of carbonic 
acid gas is disengaged. When the fermentation is finished, the spongy crust which forms on its surface falls 
to the bottom ; the liquor becomes clear, having lost its saccharine taste, and become wine. If we now ex- 
amine the liquor, we shall find that it differs essentially in its chemical and physical properties from the 
juice of grapes before fermentation. Its agreeable sweet taste is changed; it has not the laxative quality of 
must, but affects the head and occasions intoxication ; lastly, on distillation with a gentle heat, a volatile, 
colourless, and highly inflammable liquor called spirit of wine, or alcohol, is obtained. When the juice con- 
tains too large a portion of sugar, it is customary to add a small portion of tartar; on the contrary, if the 
saccharine matter be deficient, and that salt in excess, sugar is to be added. If the juice only is fermented, 
white wine is produced; but when the fermentation has been conducted on the skins or marc, red wines are 
obtained, both from white and coloured grapes. The same fruit in different seasons requires to be managed 
differently; and almost every kind of wine requires a different, and in some cases, even an opposite mode of 
treatment. Thus the fine bouquet of Burgundy is completely dissipated by a too rapid fermentation, while, 
on the contrary, the fermentation of the strong wines of Languedoc, celebrated chiefly for the quantity of 
alcohol which they contain, should be long and complete. When the sugar is not completely decomposed, 
or the fermentation checked, the wine retains a sweet taste; a more perfect decomposition, with a brisker fer- 
mentation, renders it strong and spirituous. 
It is then put in casks, where the fermentation still continues, though in an imperceptible degree; a 
scum rises on its surface, and escapes by the bung-hole, which at first requires to be covered only by a leaf 
or tile. In proportion as the fermentation subsides, the mass of wine diminishes in bulk, and it becomes 
necessary to watch this cautiously, in order to supply the place with new wine, so as to keep the cask always 
full. In some districts, they fill up every day during the first month ; every other during the second ; and 
every eight days afterwards, till the time of racking. The effect of this insensible fermentation, is the gradual 
