294 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
to send to market, it is sweet and fit for the ta¬ 
ble. The crop ripens up gradually, and though 
the first fruit had been picked two weeks before 
our visit (Aug. 3), there was a great abundance 
of green fruit coming forward. The canes are 
perfectly hardy in the mountains of Sussex Co., 
but doubtless it would, like other varieties, be 
benefited by protection m winter. Should the 
Kittatinny do as well elsewhere, it will be a val¬ 
uable addition to our limited list of varieties. 
To save answering queries, it may be well to 
state that the stock of this plant is in the hands 
of Mr. E. Williams, of Montclair, N. J., who 
has placed it in the hands of several of our most 
eminent fruit growers, with a view of further 
testing it before offering it for sale to the public, 
and that none will be sold the present year. 
Wine-Making Suggestions. 
Within a few years the culture of the grape 
has astonishingly increased, and there are nu¬ 
merous vineyards all over the country. We 
should be glad not to see a gallon of wine made 
until the fruit itself became so plenty in our 
markets that poor people could afford to eat and 
enjoy it; but such numerous requests for an ar¬ 
ticle on wine-making come to the office of the 
Am. Agriculturist that they can not be disregarded. 
In making wine there are so many little de¬ 
tails to be observed and so many things requi¬ 
site to the best success, that it is not possible 
to give more than the most general directions. 
Wine-making is a trade which has to be learned 
either by one’s own experience or from that of 
others. The quality of wine is affected not only 
by the process of manufacture but by the vari¬ 
ety of grapes; and again the same kind of grape 
will produce a different product on different 
soils. Upon large estates in Europe, celebrated 
for their wines, vines in different parts of the 
same vineyard produce wines of very differ¬ 
ent qualities. Then there is a great difference 
of opinion as to what constitutes wine. Some 
apply the term to grape juice fermented with 
the addition of sugar and afterward fortified 
with a portion of brandy or other distilled spir¬ 
its. We consider none of these compounds as 
wines. The only thing which should be called 
wine is produced by the fermentation of pure 
grape juice without any addition whatever. 
Many of our native grapes will not make a wine 
that will keep, yet these differ according to the 
locality. Thus: the Concord is a valuable wine 
grape in Missouri, while many at the East say 
that wine can not be made from it. Sugar is 
generally added to the juice of the Isabella, yet 
we recently tasted, at the house of a friend who 
would not deceive us, a very good, very light 
wine made from the pure juice of the Isabella. 
Whatever the variety of the grape, it should 
always be left upon the vine until thoroughly 
ripe. A few light frosts will do no hurt, and un¬ 
less the grapes commence to decay they are 
better left on until there is danger from frost. 
The fruit is to be picked carefully, all imperfect 
berries removed in picking from the stems, and 
bruised without crushing the seeds. The bruis¬ 
ing may be done in a barrel with a pounder, or 
they may be run through a mill for the pur¬ 
pose. Some months ago we published a cor¬ 
respondent’s method of squeezing currants, by 
putting them in a hag and running them through 
a clothes wringer. Possibly this treatment 
might answer for experiments with grapes in 
the small way. The hint is worth remembering. 
After grapes have been crushed, the further 
treatment varies. The juice which runs from 
the bruised grapes may be taken for the best 
kind of wine, and what can be pressed from 
them for a second quality, or the whole may be 
mixed together. The grapes must be pressed; 
this is usually done with a screw press, the 
bruised fruit being put in a coarse bag. If a 
light colored wine is desired, the grapes are 
pressed soon after they are bruised, but for a 
dark wine, the bruised grapes are put into a cov¬ 
ered tub in a cool cellar and allowed to ferment. 
When the mass of pulp and skins rises to the 
top, and this crust begins to crack from the es¬ 
cape of bubbles of gas, then the pressing takes 
place. The time allowed for this fermentation 
on the skins will determine in a great measure 
the quality of the wine. The longer it is allow¬ 
ed to continue, the higher colored and the 
rougher, or more astringent the product will be. 
In whichever of the above methods the juice, 
or must , is obtained, it has to be fermented. 
For this purpose it is put into a perfectly clean 
cask. A bung is then fitted to the cask which 
has a bent tube inserted in it. This tube is bent 
like an inverted letter U, one leg of which is 
inserted into the bung and the other dips into 
water placed in a cup or other vessel, as in the 
figure. By means of this arrangement, all the 
gas liberated during the fermentation passes out 
through the water, while the air is prevented 
from coming in contact with the liquid in the 
cask. The fermentation commences in a day or 
two and continues for several weeks. The 
lower the temperature the slower it will go 
on, and the better the quality of the wine will 
be. When bubbles cease to pass through the 
water in which the tube is immersed, remove 
the bung containing the tube, fill up the cask 
with juice which has been reserved for the pur¬ 
pose, and place a sound bung in lightly. A month 
later the bung may be driven tight. Some time 
during the winter the wine is carefully drawn 
off from the lees into another perfectly sweet 
cask. In the spring, about the time of the 
blossoming of the grape, another fermentation 
takes place, at which time the bungs should be 
loosened. After this is over, the wine will usu¬ 
ally become clear without any aid, and in a few 
months may be bottled, though the operation 
is usually deferred until winter. This is a mere 
outline of the process, which is variously mod¬ 
ified according to the kind of wine desired and 
the peculiar views of the maker. It is essen¬ 
tial to use the ripest grapes, observe the great¬ 
est cleanliness in all the vessels used, and to 
keep the casks full in order that the air shall 
come in contact with the new wine as little as 
possible. All the wines*made from our native 
grapes, without addition of sugar or alcohol, are 
very light and will not bear exposure to the air. 
Winter Protection.— Many things which 
can not he grown at the North, if left to them¬ 
selves, may he, with a slight covering. Any 
non-conducting material that will not pack 
from the weight of the snow will answer. 
Boughs of cedar and other evergreens, and salt 
hay, and hay from the marshes, consisting in 
good part of sedges and ferns, and forest leaves, 
are all preferable to straw, for covering beds of 
strawberries, etc. Tender shrubs are bound up 
in straw, or have a barrel or box turned over 
them. Grape vines, roses, etc., are bent down 
and covered with a few inches of earth. 
The operation of starting a plant from a slip 
or cutting is familiar to all, but generally only 
those who have witnessed the operations of the 
skillful green-liouse propagator are aware that 
there are many plants which grow readily from 
a leaf or even a portion of a leaf. A number of 
green-house plants are propagated in this way, 
and the true lilies, i.e., those which have a 
scaly bulb like the white and Japanese lilies, 
are largely multiplied from the bulb scales, 
which are in reality only the lower portions of 
leaves. A few weeks ago a correspondent sent us 
by mail a leaf of Bryophyllum calycinum (one of the 
Live-for-Evers) which was carried in the pock¬ 
et book for a week and then put out in the bor¬ 
der and lightly covered with earth. In a few 
days, buds appeared upon the edge of the- leaf, 
roots were thrown out, and now there are three 
promising plants which grew from a single leaf. 
The engraving above shows the leaf with the 
young plants springing out from its margin. 
-»o< 
The Peters Pear— {Clift.) 
The class of really good, early pears is very 
small, and any addition to the number will be 
welcomed by cultivators. Rev. W. Clift, sends us 
specimens, and gives the following account of 
the above named pear : “ It is one of our earliest 
summer pears, and is pronounced by competent 
I judges very good , if not best. It is a seedling of 
