Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1862-09-26
A RICULTU AL.
How to Make Wins.

anu InGfS are IudHy persons nav lilS
small quantities ofgrapes, who would
like to make them into wine, if ac-
9uainted with the process, some OF
whom have requested me to give the
direction for this purpose, 1 here with
submit for their benefit. as well as
wine growers in general, the follow
ing process of making wine from the
Catawba and other grapes, which, if
carefully followed, Will give the best
result.
The first thing is to have good Yess-
els in proper order to contain the
wine. the larger the better, provide d
they are always full. New casks of
oak are best for wine; next, casks
which have recently had similar wine
in them, and are therefore called
wine green;" and, lastly, spirit casks.
New casks should be soaked sever
al days before using, first with hot
water, to which a double handful OF
lime is added, to neutralize the acid
of the wood, and otherwise sweeten
the cask; other casks should be thor
oughly rised within hot, and afterward
with cold water.
Before using, a sulphur match
formed by drawing a strip of cotton
cloth, about an inch wide, through
melted sulphur, about one inch square
or a piece of solid sulphur the size of
pea, should be burned in each bar
rel of forty gallons; larger casks in
proportion.
The grapes should be gathered
when thoroughly ripe, which, with
the Catawba, in this latitude is from
the fifteenth Of September to first of
October, and on a fair day.
All unripe, dry rotten berries
should be picked from the bunch, and
only the perfect ones submitted to
pressure. Some separate the berries
from the stems, but this is useless la
bor. as nothing is extracted frcm the
stems by pressure They may either
be pressed whoIe-wEich method I
preter--or previously mashed, as is
usual, in tub with wooden poun-
der. If the latter, they should be
put TO press at once, lest fermenta-
tion begin, the coloring matter of
the skin be dissolved, and the wine
have too much color.
Some prefer to make high colored
wines, under the mistaken notion that
they keep better, and for this purpose
allow their grapes, after being mash
ed, to remain and fcrmont on the
skins, twelve, twenty-four, and even
forty eight hours; but this Is "a bad
practice, and always injurious to
wine, for all experience teaches US
that the best CaIawba wine is with
out color.
Press until the juice shows color,
and put in one cask for first quality;
continue to press, and put the resi-
due III another cask or vessel, for
second quality wine Then raise the
screw, and stir up the mashed grapes,
and press again in like manner. -
Where the quantity is large, say six
ty or eighty gallons. two qualities of
wine should always thus be made, but
with small quantities, it may be put
ia one vessel.
When the casks are nearly full
within two inches of the bung-thcv
should be transferred to a celler of
ordinary temperature, say from 60
to IS degs. Fahrenheit, fixed in
their proper places, twelve or fifteen
inches from the floor, and their bungs
taken out. Fermentation will soon
| begin, and the forth escaps from the
bung. This should be suffered to
flow out for about. twenty-four hours,
carrying with it the grosser part of
the lees. A 5ung, provided with a
piece of small lead, or other pipe,
about a foot long should be then in
serted. One end of this pipe, which
should be bent into the shape of 4
semicircle, communicates with the
barrel, and the other end should dip
into tin cup filled with water, res
ting on the barrel, the object being to
allow the escape of gas, and prevent
the contact of atmospheric air. Most
wine, however, is fermented without
this apparatus, the bung only being
laid lightly in its place.
When fermentation is merely over,
which may be known by the gas ceas-
ing to escape from the leaden pipe
or the kissing noise that accompanies
it is no longer heard, the latter is
driven tight and a gimbIet hole, fur
nished with a spile made alongside.
The spile should be drawn every two
or three days, until the gas ceases to
accumulate, alter which the vessel
should be filled with some wine re-
served for the purpose, and both
bung and spile be driven tight, and
the wine allowed to remain Gpdistur-
bed until near Christmas.
About this time it sbonld be exam
ined, and if found to be clear, draw
off from the lees or sediment into an
other cask; or returned to the same
cask, we'll rinsed and fumigated with
sulphur, as at first.
The wine is now finished and may
be bottled if desired. in May OF June,
but it is better if kept in wood du-
ring summer, when it will undergo
another slight fermentation" and bot
tied in the fall, one year after the
vintage. WIZ. GLASGOW, JR. Tc
the Secretary of the St. Louis Hor
ticuIInral Society.
Hay and Corn shrinkago by Drying.
T..l n