The Howard union. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1865-1866, 1865-08-10
HOW TO MAKE WINE.

wv ooSiotaiy VI the 81. Louis HORTICULTURE
Society:
There are many persons having small
quantities Of grapes VINO would like TO max,
them into wine, ii acquainted with the pro
cess, some of whom have requested me t,
give directions for this purpose, herewith
submit for their benefit, as we'll as wine
growers in general, the following process,
OF making wine from the Catawba and Other
grapes, which, If carefully followed, will
give the best results
The first thing is to have good vessels
in proper order, to contain the wine, the
larger the better, provided they are Away:
full. New casks of oak are better for new
wine; next casks which have recently had
similar wine in them, and are, therefore
called "wine green" and, lastly, spiri,
casks.
New casks should be soaked sevexal days
before using, first with hot water, to which
a double handful of lime is added 10 neutral
ize the acid of the wood and otherwise
sweeten the cask; other casks should be
thoroughly rinsed with hot and afterwards
with cold water.
Before using, a sulphur match (formed
by drawing q strip Of cotton cloth about an
inch wide through melted sulphur) about
one inch square, or piece of solid sulphur
the size Of pea, should be burned in each
barrel of forty gallons, larger casks in pro
portion.
The grapes should be gathered when
thoroughly ripe, which, with the Catawba
IN this latitude, is from the 18th of Septem-
Der to the LIST of October, and on fair day.
All unripe, dry and 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 labor, as nothing is extracted
from the stems by pressure. They may
either be preserved whole-which method
| prefer-or previously mashed, as is usual,
in tub with wooden FOUNDER If the
latter, they should be put to press at once,
lest fermentation begin, the coloring matter
of the skin be dissolved, and the wine have
too much color.
Some prefer 10 make high colored wines
under the mistaken notion that they keep
better, and for this purpose allow their
grapes, after being mashed, 10 remain and
terment on the skins, twelve, twenty-four,
and even fOrty-eight hours; but this is a
bad practice, and always injurious to the
wine, for all experience teaches us that the
best Catawba wine is without color.
Press until the juice shows color, and
put in one cask for the first quality; con.
tinue to press, and put the residue in another
cask or vessel for second quality wine.
Then raise the screw and stir up the mash
ed grapes, and press again in like manner.
Where the quantity is large, say sixty or
eighty gallons, two qualities Of wine should
always thus be made, but with small guam
titles it may all be put in one vessel.
When the casks are nearly ful-within
two inches Of The bung-they should be
transferred TO cellar of ordinary tempera-
ture, say from go to rs degrees Fahrenheit,
fixed in their proper places, twelve or fifteen
inches from the floor, and their bugs tax en-
out. Fermentation will soop begin, and the
froth escape from the bung. This should
be suffered to flow cut for about twenty.
four hours, carrying with it the grosser
part of the lees. A bung, provided with a
piece Of small lead or other pipe about foot
long, should be then inserted. One end of
'hiS pipC' "biSu ehOulu Uo Delil lutO Tie
shape of semi. circle, communicates with
the barrel, and the other end should dip into
tin cup filled with water, resting on the
barrel, the object being TO allow the escape
OF gas, and prevent the contact Of atmos-
pheric air. Most wine, however, is fer
mented without this apparatus, the bung
only being laid lightly in its place.
When fermentation is nearly over, which
may be known by the gas ceaspg to escape
from tie leaden pipe, or the Kissing noise
that accompanies it is no longer heard on
applying the ear to the bung, the latter is
driven tight, and gimblet hole furnished
with splo made alongside. The spile
should be drawn every two or three days,
until the gas ceases to accumulate, after
which the vessel should be filled with some
wine reserved for the purpose, and both
bung and Spite be driven tight, and the wine
allowed to remain undis,urbed until near
Christmas.
About this time il should be examined
and if found to be clear, draw off from the
lees or sediment into another cask; or re-
turned TO the same cask, well rinsed and
fumigated with sulphur as at first.
The wine is now finished, and may be
bottled, if desired, in May or June, but it is
better if kept in wood during summer (when
it will undergo another slight fermentation
and bottled in the fall one year after the
vintage. WIN. GLASGOW, JR.