AMERICAN  WINE,  BRANDY  AND  TARTAR.  413 
We  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  the  wine  cellar  of  Messrs. 
Longworth  and  Zimmerman,  of  a  similar  character.  The  main 
apartment  was  an  immense  stone  arched  vault,  twenty  feet  deep, 
and,  perhaps,  twenty-five  by  one  hundred  in  area,  on  either  side 
of  which  was  arranged  a  series  of  wine  vats  or  casks,  each  of 
which,  we  were  told,  held  near  3000  gallons ;  besides  these  there 
were  a  number  of  smaller  dimensions,  the  whole  probably  con- 
taining near  100,000  gallons.  Opening  into  this,  was  the  wine 
cellar  for  storing  bottled  wine,  large  stacks  of  which  were  piled 
horizontally  along  the  sides,  to  improve  by  age.  The  tempera- 
ture of  this  vault  is  about  66°,  and  we  were  informed,  is  about 
two  degrees  warmer  in  mid-winter  than  in  mid-summer ;  a  tem- 
perature highly  favorable  to  the  slow  fermentation  necessary  to 
the  maturation  of  the  wines* 
We  also  examined  some  pure  Catawba  brandy,  made  by  Messrs. 
L.  &  Z.,  which  possessed,  in  a  high  degree,  the  true  aroma  and 
flavor  of  distilled  wine. 
In  looking  at  this  new  enterprise,  in  a  pharmaceutical  point 
of  view,  there  are  several  features  of  great  interest.  The  item 
of  cream  of  tartar  alone  has  become  so  important  in  medicine 
and  the  arts  from  the  numerous  products  derived  from  it,  or  uses 
to  which  it  is  applied,  that  the  scarcity  of  the  salt  from  the  re- 
peated failure  of  the  grape  crop  in  Europe,  has  very  materially 
influenced  the  prices  of  its  derivative  products. 
It  is  well  known  that  pure  brandy  in  this  country  is  not  always 
to  be  found,  and  when  met  with,  commands  so  elevated  a  price, 
that  it  is  rarely  employed  as  a  menstruum  when  appropriate. 
These  two  items  alone,  render  the  wine  growing  enterprize  ex- 
tremely interesting  to  American  pharmaceutists,  apart  from  the 
ameliorating  influence,  which  the  substitution  of  pure  native  wines 
for  crude  distilled  liquors  will  probably  have  in  promoting  the 
cause  of  rational  temperance.  Mr.  Rehfuss  has  already  pre- 
pared tartar  of  excellent  quality  from  his  own  wine  vats,  and 
there  can  be  but  little  doubt  from  the  data  now  ascertained, 
that  a  few  years  will  enable  the  wine  makers  of  the  West  to 
supply  almost  wholly  the  domestic  demand  for  this  valuable  salt. 
Mr.  R.,  as  we  have  already  noticed  at  page  399,  has  turned  his 
attention  to  the  application  of  chemistry  to  the  grape  culture, 
and  finds  that  manuring  with  wood  ashes,  in  some  soils,  greatly 
