138 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 27. 
In the following directions, Roberts’s Saccharometer is 
supposed to be used in ascertaining the specific gravities 
during the process; and as the first step necessary is to 
ascertain, whatever may he the fruit, the specific gravity of 
its juice (for according to the greater or less gravity of this 
juice, less or more sugar must be added to bring it up to the 
required standard), I think I cannot do better than quote 
from Mr. Robert’s “ British Mine Maker ” a table of the 
| various gravities of the expressed juice of several of our 
I English fruits:— 
“ Ripe grapes, about 70; half-ripe, 45; red currants, 
i 53 ; white, 52 ; black, 52 ; gooseberries two-thirds ripe, 
53; elderberries, 56; mulberries, 59; juice of the rhubarb 
stalk, 15; 1 lb. of parsnips, boiled in one gallon of water 
for two hours, 15; one pound of sugar in one gallon of 
water, 36.” All these gravities were noted at the tempera¬ 
ture of 60° Fahrenheit, and to them I may add—Apple 
juice as it runs frpm the press, 55. From various trials 
made this season I found it vary in different samples from 
50 to CO: the highest gravity was observed but in one 
instance. With these preliminary observations 1 will now 
proceed to 
WINE FROM RIPE GRATES. 
This wine claims the first place on my list, inasmuch as 
in no other fruit have we naturally the necessary consti¬ 
tuents of wine. Fifteen to twenty pounds of grapes should 
be used to each gallon of water. The grapes should be 
carefully picked from the stalk, and all damaged berries 
rejected. They should be bruised with the hand, and well 
mixed w r itli the water, and allowed to remain steeped in it 
for a few days, the mass being well stirred twice or three 
times daily. The liquor should then be strained, the husks 
being pressed; but care should be taken not to crush the 
seeds, as they might impart a rough, unpleasant flavour. 
The gravity of this liquor should now be ascertained by 
l the Saccharometer, and sugar added sufficient to bring it up 
I to about 120 (24 on Roberts’s scale). It is probable that 
I two pounds per gallon will be required, but of course this 
I will depend on the ripeness of the fruit used, and the dry¬ 
ness and heat of the preceding summer: the riper the 
grapes the higher the gravity of their juice, and consequently 
the less sugar requited to bring it up to the necessary 
richness. It is this uncertainty that renders the strict 
accordance with the letter of any receipt—ordering so much 
sugar and so much fruit to every gallon of water—liable to 
produce very differing results in different years. The fer¬ 
mentation should be proceeded with precisely as directed 
for rhubarb wine; but it must be remembered that as the 
season at which this wine was made has become advanced, 
the operation should be conducted in a room artificially 
warmed, and kept at a temperature of about 60°. 
The final gravity of the wine before bottling should he 
about 35, or, if it be in tended as a dry wine, even as low as 
20. In the former case, the wine should be bottled in 
March, and in champagne bottles; in the latter case, two 
years in the cask will greatly improve and mellow the wine. 
WINE FROM UNRITE GRAPES 
May be made in the same manner, the only difference 
being in the increased quantity of sugar, the proportion 
required being indicated by the saccharometer, it being 
! remembered that each pound of sugar will raise the gravity 
1 about 36. Wine made from unripe or partially ripe grapes 
i is not deficient in flavour, and has much the character 
j of hock. 
WINE FROM GRAPE-VINE PRUNINGS 
May be made of an excellent quality. As chemical analysis 
proves the young shoots and leaves of the vine to be exactly 
similar in their composition to the immature fruit, so, by 
; infusing them in boiling water, letting them steep for several 
days, using the same weights as in the case of fruit, and 
. adding sugar as indicated by the saccharometer, together 
with a little argol as in rhubarb wine, a well-flavoured wine 
may be produced. I made a small cask in 1849 from half 
such primings, and half rhubarb stalks, and I believe it will 
prove a good wine. Of course it requires more sugai', and 
is so far more expensive ; but it should be borne in mind, 
j that the cost of the sugar is the cost of the wine, and it—the 
j sugar—will perhaps average about three pounds to the 
gallon. Mr. Roberts says that this wine, made from vine- j 
leaves and primings, “ is highly prized, and does not appeal’ ' 
to be so decidedly a domestic wine as most of those made : 
in this country, resembling in flavour more the foreign ; 
wine.” 
I have no practical experience of the quality of such wine, 
but I have no doubt it would well repay the trouble of 
making, should any of your readers like to try the experi¬ 
ment about next June or July, and would feel their way, as 
it were, step by step, with the saccharometer; and, lest any 
should think that I revert too often to this little instrument, 
and lay too much stress upon the scientific conduct of the 
fermentation, I will quote, as an appropriate conclusion to 
this paper, a passage from Dr. Mac Culloeh :—“ But let me 
inculcate, that the wine is not made when the ingredients 
are introduced into the vessel. Jt is then that the labour 
begins, and nothing but care and attention to every part of 
the subsequent processes can ensure satisfaction, or produce 
valuable results.”— Henry W. Ltvett. 
THE DOMESTIC PIGEON. 
{Continuedfrom,page 76.) 
THE AVIARY. 
The aviary is intended for lodging birds that are much 
more domesticated, and better accustomed to confinement 
and its inconveniences. It does not require, like the dovecot, j 
to be built away from the house, but any convenient place 
will do, as a yard, or garden, or even a fowl-yard, provided it 
is not exposed to the cold north wind, though it would he j 
better if facing the east or south, and especially if the light - 
can be admitted on those sides. In large towns it may 
be constructed on a roof or terrace, and even in a granary. 
The aviary should be square; the height proportionable . 
to its width. Its total size must be regulated by the number I 
of pairs intended to be placed in it. It would be necessary, 
for example, to make an aviary eight feet square, if required 
to contain eight pairs; if it is sixteen feet long, by eight 
wide, we may lodge sixteen pairs there, and thus propor- 
tionably. IVe may calculate, whatever shape we choose to 
make our building, on eight square feet to a couple of birds. 
The more we increase the number in a given space, the 
more quarrels, and battles, and racket, and broken eggs we 
shall have. 
There are several methods made use of in constructing 
the birds’ nests, but all are not equally good. Some persons 
have small holes built in their aviary: this plan is the 
worst of all, and only does for the dovecot stock-dove. 
Others construct boxes on shelves, about ten inches deep by 
eight wide, and furnish them with a nest of plaster, or a 
basket. The fault of these boxes is that they are too small, 
and easily imbibe the dung, which soon accumulates and 
heats, and throws out a fetid smell injurious to young 
pigeons. Wicker baskets, placed on a slight wooden frame¬ 
work, are also very much used; but they are still more in¬ 
convenient here than in the dovecot. If the aviary is built 
according to the agreement of sixteen square feet, the best 
form of nests is to fix all round a shelf formed of a sub¬ 
stantial plank eighteen inches wide, fixed on brackets or arms 
let into the wall; they may also he placed loosely in grooves, 
for the convenience of taking them down to clean them. 
Twenty-two inches above this shelf we place a second, then 
a third at the same distance, if we wish for two rows of 
nests—a fourth, if we would have three on these shelves. 
Place small vertical planks, to form separate boxes; they 
should be three feet apart, so as to give this space to each 
little habitation. Place the divisions of the upper boxes ! 
over the middle of the lower boxes. In front of each cell j 
fix a window frame, furnished with a wire lattice, having in 
the middle an entrance, ten inches high and eight wide, 
provided with a door shutting by means of a wooden latch 
or iron hook. There should be a small plank in front of 
the door the width of the entrance, and extending eight or 
nine inches beyond it. This is indispensable for the pigeon 
to alight upon when it returns to its dwelling. It will be 
perceived, that when we advise not to place the divisions of 
the second row over the first, it is in order that the resting- 
places before the doors should not be over each other, that 
the pigeons, which are very fond of remaining there, may 
