PRACTICAL PAPERS—VINE CULTURE, ETC. 
815 
wine having diminished, the corks are hammered in further, the tying is 
taken off, and the wine is put in the cellar, or the ground floor, or the sec. 
ond story, in the shade or in the sun. There is no fear that any of these dif¬ 
ferent modes of keeping it will render it diseased ; they will have no influ¬ 
ence except on its mode of maturing, on its colors, etc. It will always be 
useful to keep a few bottles of the same kind without, heating it, so as to 
compare them at long intervals with that which has been healed. The bot¬ 
tle may be kept in an upright position; no mould will form, but perhaps the 
wine will lose a little of its fineness under such condition if the cork gets 
dry and air is allowed to freely enter.” 
Mr. Pasteur affirms that he has exposed casks of wine thus 
heated in the open air or terrace, with a northern exposure, 
from April to December, without any injury resulting. 
Wine in casks may be heated by introducing a tin pipe 
through the bunghole, which shall descend in coils nearly to 
the bottom and return in a straight line and through the pipe 
imparting steam. If, after thus being once heated, there is 
such an exposure to air, as by drawing off and bottling, as to 
admit a fresh introduction of “ parasites,” the disease thus in¬ 
troduced may be easily cured by heating a second time. 
Mr. Pasteur claims also to have discovered and proved that 
wine can be advanced in ripening and improved by “ aera¬ 
tion ” conducted in a slow and gentle manner. This is a bold 
assertion, but such confidence is felt in the value of sugges¬ 
tions coming from him, that both of his methods, cutting, as 
they will, a tangle of old theories, will have a fair trial by his 
countrymen, and that without delay. 
Your committee would say, in conclusion, that frora what 
comparison we have been able to make between the better sam¬ 
ples of American wines, now on exhibition at the Paris expo¬ 
sition, with foreign wines of similar character, as well as from 
the experience of many European wine-tasters, we have formed 
a higher estimate of our own ability to produce good wines 
than we had heretofore ; and from our investigations in 
wine culture we are now more confident than ever that Amer¬ 
ica can and will be a great wine growing country. All that is 
necessary for us to rival the choicest products of other parts of 
the world will ere long come with practice and experience* 
