October  1,  W9e. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
3L7 
their  vegetative  system,  as  many  water  plants  are  (Hydrocharis,  Elodea, 
&c.),  and  numerous  land  plants  by  bulbils,  rannere,  offsets,  &b. 
Darwin  has  collected  a  number  of  instances  of  “  bud  variation  by 
suckers,  tubers,  and  bulba  ”  as  among  Potatoes,  Dahlias,  Phlox,  Tulips, 
Since,  therefore,  new  varieties  and  races  can  be  established  by  bud 
variation  alone,  there  is  ample  evidence  to  prove  that  “  a  progressive 
evolution  of  plants  can  take  place  without  the  aid  of  sex.” 
The  rationale  of  all  this  is,  that  variation  in  plants  is  always  due, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  inflnence  of  the  environment ;  and  it 
matters  not  whether  the  plant  be  raised  from  seed  or  from  the  vegetative 
system,  the  new  surroundings  can  act  on  both  precisely  in  the  same  way. 
This  I  have  proved — e.g.,  taking  slips  and  seed  from  the  wild  spiny  Rest- 
harrow,  in  two  years  I  have  converted  both  into  a  spineless  form  not 
distinguishable  from  the  so-called  species  Ononis  repens,  L,  by  growing 
them  in  a  constantly  saturated  atmosphere. 
Mr.  Bailey  concludes  his  article  by  refuting  Dr.  Weismann’s  theory 
and  observes  :  “  I  should  bring  in  rebuttal  the  result  of  direct  observa¬ 
tion  and  experiment  to  show  that  given  hereditable  asexual  variations 
are  often  the  direct  result  of  climate,  soil,  or  other  impinging  conditions. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  know  that  acquired  characters  may  be  here¬ 
ditary  in  plants  ;  if  the  facts  do  not  agree  with  the  hypothesis,  so  much 
the  worse  for  the  hypothesis.” 
Now  it  is  in  this  power  of  evolution,  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  by 
wholly  sexless  means,  that  Mr.  Bailey  sees  a  fundamental  difference 
between  the  evolution  of  plants  and  that  of  the  higher  animals  at  least. 
— George  HEbsr.ow. 
HOME-MADE  WINES. 
It  not  unfrequently  happens  in  seasons  when  there  is  an  abundant 
fruit  crop  that  in  many  gardens  a  great  deal  of  it  goes  to  waste,  either 
through  the  inability  of  the  family  to  consume  it  or  to  find  a  ready- 
market  for  the  sale  of  it.  In  such  cases  there  is  no  better  use  to 
which  it  can  be  applied  than  that  of  converting  it  into  wine  or  other 
beveragfs  for  home  consumption,  or,  if  need  be,  for  sale. 
Formerly'  almost  every  householder  made  a  certain  quantity  of 
good  wholesome  home-made  wine  at  the  time  when  duties  on  foreign 
wine  were  high,  and  the  prices  at  which  it  was  sold  were  all  but 
prohibitory  to  many,  and  quite  so  to  the  large  mass  of  the  population. 
Even  since  the  duties  have  been  reduced,  good  palatable  wine  cannot 
be  obtained  at  a  price  which  all  can  afford  to  pay  for  it  ;  and  that 
which  professes  to  be  supplied  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  masses  is  of 
such  an  inferior  quality,  so  harsh  atd  coarse  in  flavour,  and  so  ill-suited 
to  the  palates  of  the  population  of  this  country  generally,  as  to  be 
repulsive  unless  first  mixed  with  water  to  conceal  its  objectionable 
qualities.  Much  of  the  cheap  wine  that  is  now  imported  is  drunk, 
not  because  it  is  palatable  or  appreciated  by'  the  consumer,  but  because 
it  is  wine,  and  to  drink  wine  as  others  do  fosters  the  vanity  of  many 
people  ;  hence  they  drink  such  wine  as  they  can  afford  to  buy,  regard¬ 
less  of  the  consequences  it  has  on  their  constitutions. 
A  good  wholesome  home-made  wine  is  within  the  reach  of  every'- 
one  who  has  a  garden,  and  eveii  of  many  w'ho  have  not  ;  for  in  fruitful  ' 
seasons  wine-producing  fruits  can  be  bought  very  cheaply',  and  now 
that  the  price  of  sugar  is  lower  there  is  no  reason  why  every  house¬ 
hold  should  not  always  have  a  cask  of  good  wine  in  the  cellar,  or 
a  few  dozens  of  matured  old  in  bottles.  If  it  were  worth  the  while 
to  make  home-made  wine  when  sugar  was  Is.  a  lb.,  how  much  greater 
is  the  inducement  to  make  it  now  that  as  good  sugar  can  be  bought 
for  3d. 
Here  we  would  remark  that  the  great  fault  of  most,  if  not  all, 
home-made  wines  is  their  excessive  sweetness.  Many  people  think 
that,  to  insure  their  keeping,  wines  ought  to  be  made  sweet,  and  that 
time  will  correct  the  sweetness.  This  is  a  great  mistake.  Wine  that 
is  made  sweet  and  heavy  will  coniinue  so,  and  the  only  way  to  insure 
good  keeping  properties  is  to  be  careful  to  insure  a  perfect  fermenta¬ 
tion.  By  this  perfect  fermentation,  the  sugar  naturally  contained  in 
the  fruit  and  that  which  is  added  are  converted  into  spirit,  and  it  is 
the  spirit  which  preserves  the  wine.  All  added  spirit  is  objectionable, 
and  therefore  it  ought  always  to  be  kept  in  view  ro  generate  as  much 
spirit  as  possible  in  the  fermentation.  This  is  a  remark  merely  made 
in  passing,  as  these  subjects  will  be  treated  at  full  length  under  their 
different  heads  ;  but  the  great  fault  in  almost  all  home-made  wines  is 
the  too  great  addition  of  sugar  and  spirit. 
The  ordinary  recipes  that  are  met  with  in  the  manuscripts  which 
abound  in  almost  every  household,  and  those  that  are  given  in  cookery 
and  domestic  recipe  books,  are  generally  very  misleading  and  not  to 
be  relied  upon.  They  make  no  allowance  w'hatever  for  the  quality  of 
the  fruit  that  is  to  be  used,  and  it  never  seems  to  have  entered  into 
the  minds  of  those  who  composed  them  that  fruit  from  the  same  tree 
differs  very  much  in  quality  in  different  years.  In  a  fine  hot  and  dry 
season  the  juices  are  rich  in  saccharine  matter,  while  in  those  that  are 
cold  and  wet  they  are  thin  and  watery,  with  a  much  smaller  propor¬ 
tion  of  sugar  in  them.  How,  then,  can  a  recipe  that  prescribes  a 
fixed  quantity  of  sugar  to  a  gallon  of  juice  be  equally  applicable  to 
the  making  of  wine  in  good  and  bad  seasons  alike?  The  only  safe 
way  and  sure  guide  in  the  regulation  of  this  part  of  the  process  is  the 
use  of  the  saccharometer,  which  is  an  instrument  that  tells  the  weight 
of  the  juice,  and  indicates  the  quantity  of  sacchariue  matter  it 
contains.  On  this  subject  we  shall  also  speak  more  at  length 
presently. 
The  beverage  that  is  ordinarily  termed  wine  is  the  fermented  juice 
of  the  Grape  ;  but  wine  may  be  produced  not  only  from  the  fruit  of 
many  other  plants,  but  also  from  roots  and  from  the  sap  of  some  trees 
which  is  rich  in  saccharine  matter.  It  is  also  made  from  the  young 
shoots  of  the  Vine  and  the  succulent  leafstalks  of  some  plants,  such 
as  the  Rhubarb.  We  shall  treat  of  all  these  variously  produced  wines, 
but  in  the  meantime  we  will  confine  our  attention  to  the  making  of 
wine  from  British-grown  fruits,  and  in  treating  of  the  subject  we 
will  consider  the  various  operations  of  Gathering  the  Fruit — Fermen¬ 
tation — The  Gravity  of  the  Must — Argol — and  Flavouring.  . 
Gathering  the  Fruit. 
It  is  of  the  greatest  moment  in  this  climate  of  ours  that  wine 
should  only  be  made  in  seasons  that  are  hot  and  dry,  for  it  is  only 
then  that  the  fruit  is  in  a  proper  condition  for  wine-making  in  con¬ 
s' qnence  of  the  greater  amount  of  saccharine  matter  it  contains.  It 
will,  therefore,  be  readily  understood  that  the  gathering  of  the  fruit 
should  be  made  during  fine  dry  weather,  so  as  to  insure  that  the 
saccharine  principles  which  it  contains  shall  not  be  deteriorated  by 
any  atmospheric  moisture.  For  instance,  in  a  dry,  warm  season  the 
juice  of  trie  Currant  contains  one-third  more  sugar  than  the  same 
juice  does  in  a  cold,  wet  one  ;  and  if  fruit,  however  good,  be  gathered 
on  a  wet  day,  or  when  it  is  wet  with  dew,  it  will  readily  be  seen 
that  it  must  be  not  so  well  suited  for  making  wine  of  the  best 
quality. 
Fruit  intended  for  wine  should  always  be  quite  ripe  when  it  is 
gathered,  for  then  it  contains  less  malic  acid,  and  consequently  more 
sugar. 
Fermentation. 
The  most  important  stage  in  the  art  of  wine-making  is  fermenta- 
tion  ;  and  on  the  care  with  which  this  is  conducted  depends  whether 
the  result  of  the  operation  be  wine  or  vinegar.  No  alc'diolie  fermen¬ 
tation  can  take  place  without  tbe  presence  of  1,  s.accharioe  matter  ; 
2,  ferment  or  leaven  ;  3,  water  in  sufficient  quantity  lo  dilute  the 
sugar  and  the  ferment  ;  4,  contact  with  the  air  ;  5,  a  certain  degiee 
of  temperature. 
Saccharine  Matter. — This  is  found  in  all  fruits,  either  in  the 
form  of  crystallisable  or  uncrystallisable  sugar  ;  but  in  the  fruits  of 
this  country  there  is  not  sufficient  to  make  a  sound  wine,  hence  the 
necest-ity  of  adding  a  certain  quantity  to  insure  success.  'J  he  best 
for  this  purpose,  when  the  wine  is  made  on  scientific  principles,  ami 
a  perfect  fermentation  is  obtained,  is  good  brown  Wrst  India  or 
Jamaica  sugar,  as  the  w-hole  of  it  is  converted  into  alcohol,  flhe 
reason  we  recommend  raw  West  India  sugar  is  because,  during  the 
process  of  refiuing,  the  small  quantity  of  ferment  which  sug  r 
contains  is  completely  destroyed.  But  where  the  “rule  of  thumb” 
process  is  foil  oved  it  is  necessary  to  use  lump  sugar,  as  the  fermenta¬ 
tion  being  generally  incomplete,  the  sweetness  that  is  left  in  the  wine 
is  more  pleasant  and  palatable  than  that  of  brown  sugar  would  be. 
The  quantity  of  sugar  that  is  required  varies  in  different  cases,  and  is 
regulated  by  the  saccharometer  accor.Jiug  to  the  quantity  of  saccha¬ 
rine  matter  that  is  naturally  contained  in  the  fruit ;  and  the  great-  r 
the  quantity  of  sugar  the  fruit  contains  the  stronger  will  be  the 
wine. 
Ferment,  Leaven,  or  Vegetable  Extract. — This  is  also  found 
naturally  in  fruits,  and  is  a  substance  analogous  to  the  gluten  which 
is  obtained  by  washing  Wheat  flour.  It  is  in  a  state  of  perfect 
solution  in  the  juices  of  fruits,  but  it  is  not  separated  till  fermentation 
sets  in,  and  this  change  of  condition  is  produced  by  its  union  with 
water,  sugar,  and  atmospheric  air,  at  a  temperature  of  not  less  than 
45°  to  50°  Fahrenheit. 
In  the  composition  of  fruits  the  ferment  is  never  in  exact  propor¬ 
tion  with  the  sugar.  In  wet  seasons,  when  the  fruit  contains  a  small 
quantity  of  sugar,  a  portion  of  the  ferment  remains  after  the  con¬ 
version  of  the  sugar  into  carbonic  acid  and  alcohol  by  fermentation. 
This  ferment  is  set  in  motion  by  the  oxygen,  and  there  being  no 
sugar  for  it  to  decompose,  it  attacks  the  alcohol  and  changes  it  into 
vinegar.  This  is  what  is  called  the  acetous  fermentation,  and  hence 
it  is  that  all  weak  wines  become  acid  so  soon. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  the  fruit  contains  a  large  quantity  of  sugar, 
as  it  does  in  hot,  dry  seasons,  after  all  the  ferment  is  exhausted  there 
remains  a  portion  of  the  sugar  still  undecomposed,  and  this  is  what 
produces  the  sweet  wines  which  the  French  call  “vins  de  liqueur,” 
such  as  Frontignan,  Lonel,  and  Mufcitel. 
