126 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Frs., 1898. 
The escaped juice from the broken berries will, after the lapse of some 
hours, have been infected with myriads of inimical germs; the longer the 
interval, the greater their number, hence the necessity for their removal even if 
it entails a small cost. The same precaution should be observed with grapes 
that have been picked overnight and kept in bulk; of course, sound grapes 
fresh picked do not require any treatment, and can go straight to the mill. 
All utensils that have been in contact with must, and not used for some 
hours, should be washed before further use, as these swarm with germs. A very 
good plan is to keep in the cellar a tub of water mixed with a small quantity 
of sulphuric acid in the proportion of, say, 1 pint to 100 gallons, enough that 
the water is sourish to the taste; this is an excellent disinfectant with which 
to rinse your pails, pump, vats, &c. 
Avoid throwing your mare and stalks just outside the cellar, or very 
shortly each breeze will waft clouds of invisible spores inside ready to germinate 
in a favourable. medium ; take it away into the vineyard or elsewhere as far off 
as possible. 
Be careful to clean up without delay must drippings, broken grapes, mare, 
and rotten fruit of any kind; these all become infested with germs. 
Avoid having stables adjacent to the cellar. Ifit cannot be helped, then 
observe the greatest possible cleanliness in them; look upon it as though you 
were combating typhoid—the noxious germs are the typhoid of wine. 
For a certain time after crushing, the must is comparatively inactive—the 
Saccharomyces take a little time to develop from the spores and reproduce. If, 
during this period, fully developed inimical germs are, through want of care 
and attention, introduced into the must, they will at once begin multiplying 
and converting the sugar into matters foreign to good wine before the 
Saccharomyces can get to work; if, instead, the latter have a clear course before 
them, a short, healthy, complete fermentation ensues, and a sound wine with a 
good bouquet is your reward. 
A careful farmer sees that his seed is clean and of the best quality. 
Were he to sow his land with wheat mixed with the seeds of noxious weeds, 
what kind of a crop would he get? And he should be doubly careful in sowing 
his must, as it is possible for him to clear the Jand of the weeds, but once 
your inimical germs, your poisonous weeds, get into your must there is no 
undoing the evil they work. 
The following is a good way of starting a quick and healthy fermentation 
in must :—Twenty-four hours before vintaging, choose a quantity of the 
soundest and ripest grapes from the best quality of vine in your vineyard—sufh- 
cient to make twenty or thirty gallons of juice—and with clean hands or a 
small mill crush them into a very clean hogshead with the head out; cover the 
top of the cask with a clean linen cloth. Fermentation will have started by the 
time you commence your vintage, and this yeast should be sprinkled over 
the fresh grapes as they are milled; a sound, healthy fermentation will be 
quickly started, if care has been taken to keep out the noxious germs. This 
is a step in the direction of fermenting with cultivated yeasts, and at no cost 
to the yigneron. By selecting his grapes from the best quality of vine that he 
has or can procure, he produces a yeast that influences beneficially the must 
of inferior quality of grapes as well as starting a vigorous and sound 
fermentation. Of course if your vineyard is a large one you can prepare twice 
or three times the amount of yeast. 
* * * * * % 
In the earlier part of this article, the equilibrium of the constituent parts 
of must was referred to as being essential to the work of the Saccharomyces ; 
itis a point to which vignerons are often inattentive, and the consequences may 
be serious. 
For the Saccharomyces to do its work efficiently it must exist in a medium 
of sufficient acidity, and when this falls too low, as will happen in rainy 
seasons, or when the grapes are too ripe, or from other causes it is unnecessary 
