Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-11-08
SELECT.
In CALIFORNIA VINEYARDS.
Grape Culture at Napa and Los
Angeles,
Correspondence of N. Y. Tribune.l

| lUTOuBDOuI Iuc SCfCu SiOob 'ioiSoioNt
districts into which the State is divid
ed, Chinese coolies wearing inverted
straw basins like Mambrinus's hemlet
together with Italian, French ant
Portuguese laborers, are busily robblnt
the vines of their purple and whit
treasures, which are hurried to th'
foaming wine-press, or dried for raisins
or tickle the pslates of appreciativ'
mortals in their normal state. Wha
the scenes are now in the vineyard may
perhaps be shown by glimpse of ont
probably the largest producing vine
yard in California. Twelve miles from
the City of Angels-fallen angels just
now, for the Democrats have beer
holding q mass meetings. the vine
yard of San Gabriel. The road thither
is covered with four or five inches o.
powdery dust, which fails to soften the
jolting from the ruts and gullies in the
hard clay underneath. Sitting clouds
hang over the highway like the smoke
above q battlefield. Every driver
whips his steed and displays miracles
of craft and dexterity in order TO "give
his dust" to his fellow-trayellers. or,
failing this, be carefully seeks the wind
ward side of the road. Puffs of dust
mark the course of the gopher-hated
of all farmers-as he darts across the
brown, parched fields.
The dry season in California is a
time of sackcloth and ashes for those
who 60 abroad to spy out the land.
But beyond the quaint old San Gabriel
Mission the road turns into groves OF
orange trees, lines and lemons.
Streams of clear water ripple down on
either side. The yellow wearers of
Mambrinus's helmet are busy here and
there in raising little embankments of
earth around each tree in squares,
within which they presently conduct
the water from the bitches. The glossy
green of the orange leaves is matched
| by the color of the fruit, which is to
ripen into gold. Then the air becomes
fragrant with the smell of grapes. Here
are the wine-cellars, and just opposite
the building containing the wine-press,
vats and brandy-still Beyond, the
lines of vines cover the sloping fields
almost as far as the eye can reach.
THE PROCESS oFwINE-MAKING.
Each coclic, equipped with prun-
ing knife and box with handles, takes
row and cuts the tempting clusters
from each vine until his box is filed.
RELAYS of wagons are loaded with the
boxes and driven up to the building.
From the side projects hopper, into
| which the grapes are poured They
are poked down into rapidly revolv-
ing cylinder with an arrangement of
paddles which quickly crush them into
| pulp. The stems are thrown out from
the cylinder into the smaller end of the
cone-shaped stemming-wheel, and by
it's action work their way out The
pomace is conducted into huge tubs,
while the juice runs off through pipe
into the fermenting vots, strained
through filters In which the skinny
claws and lean arms of the inevitable
coolie work the pulp and seeds which
have run through the pipe and keep
the filter clear. Those juice-smeared
hands and elbows one should forget
when he drinks the wine
After fermenting in the vats the wine
is pumped through a pipe to the cellars
across the road, where there is goodly
array of hogsheads and tuns like unto
that of Heidelberg, with butts in which
half dozen Clarences could easily be
drowned. Here the wines stand and
are clarified, some, like port, with
whites of eggs, others with gelatine or
isinglass, and finally the more delicate
hooks are filtered through charcoal. In
the cellars and in the storerooms above
where tho barrels now hold 10000 gal.
Ions, the wine remains usually for q
year before it is offered for sale. The
pomace after the first crushing is press
ed again, then dried and used for q
fertilizer. In the Office is well-flled
sideboard where the Eastern visitor
finds his prejudices against American
wine melting away in the sunshine of
lusty port eleven years old, and dissi-
pated BY ruby Zinfandel claret, and by
the bouquet OF Burger hook, whose del
icacy few of the so-called Rhine wines
in the American market can surpass.
STATISTICS OF THE CROP.
While undergoing this pleasant con-
version, ones guide chats about wine
making and wakes statistical In this
vineyard there are GOO acres Of produc-
ing vines. The usual estimate is that
vines should begin to bear in the third
year after they are set out, and should
yield a profit in the fourth year, while
the fifth season should paw all the cost
of the vineyard, including the land if ii
was cheaply purchased. Here the
Charbona was one of the first grapes
used, and with it are the famous Tin.
fandel, the Malvoisie, the Burger,-a
wonderfully juicy white grape,-the
Blanc Elben, with a few Muscatel
grapes, and recently there have been
set out quantity of the Seedless
Sultana, which is usually made into
raisins, but here is to be tried for wine
These 600 acres will yield this year
500, 900 gallons of wine and 10000 o.
brandy. In quantity, port heads the
list, followed successively by Angelica
sherry, Zinfandel, hook and Malvoisie
1t is curious to find the extensive de
mand for Angelica that still exists, al.
though it is inferior to all other Cali
fornia wines, recalling forcibly the
sweetened paregoric Of ones youth.
From the vineyards throueoubt the
State the reports are generally of al
encouraging nature, and an officer o
the Viticultural Association gave mt
an estimate in San Francisco the othel
day Of the production of wine thil
season as $4,000, 900 gallons, including
that made into brandy.
THE NORTH CALIFORNIA VINEYARDS.
In my chat with this officer ther
was revealed curious mutual Jealousy
| between the northern and southern