H— 5.

principal fermentation has ceased, or is no more perceptible, the cask should be filled up with similar young white wine, and then closed with a tight-fitting wooden bung. Mohr recommends a cork bung perforated by a glass tube filled with cotton, whereby the atmospheric air would be admitted without any germs of fungi. Babo recommends an ordinary wooden bung, perforated by a few small air-holes, so arranged that an india-rubber ring will close it against the air, yet permit the escape of any carbonic-acid gas by the elasticity of the ring. White wine can also be made from black or blue grapes, as the colouring matter is merely in the skin, and is dissolved only during fermentation; consequently, by pressing the grapes at once, as soon as mashed (or even without first mashing), and before fermentation commences, thus separating part of the juice of the husks, a white or light-coloured wine is obtained. The pressings, still containing a great deal of juice, are then thrown into the fermenting-vat, some sugar-water is added to replace the portion of the juice heretofore. withdrawn by a light 'pressing, and, after fermenting for several days, they are pressed again, and a red wine is produced from the same grapes. While we do not recommend this method, and consider both the white wine and red wine thus made as inferior to what could have been produced from the same grapes had their juice been allowed to ferment altogether on the husks, it certainly does not deserve that vituperation which has been heaped on our producers, who, in view of the failure of the Catawba and other white-wine grapes, resorted to that method with the Concord. Hereafter it will scarcely be practised by any, since there are a number of productive white-wine grapes planted, and especially since grape-juice is cheaper than sugar-water. After the main or violent fermentation the must will have become clear young wine, provided that fermentation has been uninterrupted and complete ; having become clear, in December or January, it is drawn off from its sediment into clean, properly-prepared wine-casks. By this draw-ing-off the young wine again becomes cloudy, only to become clearer in March or April following, when it is again drawn off before its second fermentation. As soon as it is apparent that, with the rise of temperature, in May, this second fermentation approaches, the bungs must be opened, some wine drawn off from the full casks to make room for the inevitable expansion, and the sand-bag or other apparatus is placed on the bung-holes until the termination of this second fermentation, when the yeast and other impurities will have been precipitated and settled, and the finished wine must be drawn off again into clean, well-prepared casks. The proper and frequent drawing-off is one of the most essential operations in wine-making. The object thereby aimed at is not merely to separate the young wine from its sediment, the dregs or lees, but to bring it in contact with the atmospheric air, while in older wines such contact must be carefully avoided. In drawing off the young wine we use a vulcanised rubber hose, one end of which is placed in the wine, so as not to touch the bottom of the cask, and from the other end the air is drawn by the mouth, until the wine flows through it into wooden pails or tubs below. By a mere pressure of the two fingers the hose is closed, and the flow stopped at will; the clear wine is filled into fresh casks by the aid of the wooden funnel, heretofore mentioned among the necessary tools. Eotary pumps, specially made for wine, are now generally used for drawing off older wines ; but, as long as the wine is not quite and permanently clear, contact with the air during the drawing-off process is necessary. Permanent clearness, however, is often reached only after the wine has passed six or more times through this process. This slow process of clearing or finishing the wines is accelerated by fining (with isinglass, gelatine, eggs, &c), by filtering, by aerating, by heating (Pasteurising), and other artificial methods, which require special skill and apparatus, and which belong more to the manipulations of the winedealer's cellar than to those of the producer. Eed Wines Differ from white wines not merely in colour, derived from the black or dark-blue grape-skins, but these also contain other valuable ingredients, especially more tannin, which gives to red wines a peculiar character and important hygienic qualities. The red-wine grapes need not be crushed so soon after picking as the white-wine grapes. Many authorities recommend that their stems be first removed, as these contain and impart more acidity than is desirable in red wines. The grapes are usually fermented from one to two weeks in upright, firmly-closed fermenting-vats in which a perforated double or false bottom is placed, at about onefourth the space from the top. This false bottom is to prevent the rising of the husks to the top of the liquid, as they would do in a fermenting-tub without such double bottom, when they would have to be pushed down into the liquid several times each day, to prevent the formation of acetic acid in those husks, and to extract from them all the colour and other valuable substances. The vat is, of course, first filled with the crushed grapes; then the double bottom is put in, so that it will be covered by about three inches of pure juice, which may be drawn off by the opening or faucet below, and poured in again after the double bottom is placed over the grape-mash. The fermenting bung or funnel is used the same as in white wines, to exclude the air and permit the escape of the car-bonic-acid gas. In various wine-countries somewhat different methods are in use, but in all and every one of them success depends on a rapid, complete, and uninterrupted fermentation, and this depends on the temperature of the fermenting-room, which should be kept at about 75 c F. (18°-20° E.), by artificial heating if necessary. The further treatment of red wines is entirely the same as that of white wines, and red wines are generally much sooner ripe and finished if at first well fermented; but, if this has not been well done, its after-fermentation and cure will be the more difficult: such red wines will receive a disagreeable sweetish-sour taste, and all the fining will sooner be harmful than beneficial.

All wine-books contain more or less voluminous instructions upon various methods of improving the must which is to be made from sour grapes, gathered during unfavourable seasons, and of curing

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