The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-10-28
ABOUT GRAPES and WINE.
More Observations Made by Henry Wolf
While in Germany.
NOT ALWAYS A VERY SURE CROP.
The Gathering the Grapes, Extracting the
Juice, Making, Curing and Market.
Ing the Product.

and the danger of frost is past,
other agents of destruction make
their appearance in the shape of
moths and insects of various
kinds, which feed upon the vines
and sometimes upon the fruit it.
self; also, bacteria of various
names cause the decline of the
vines and ruin the vintage. Un.
favorable conditions of tempera.
ture and humidity in blooming
season cause coulure-the pre-.
mature falling of grapes. All
these things must be met by the
winedresser. The vines must be
examined daily; every suspicious
leaf which might harbor the en-.
emy must be removed and de.
stroyed by fire. Sometimes in.
sects must be picked off by hand;
other times spraying must be
done. When July is past and a
good vintage is really in pros.
pect, a too cool August may cause
the quality of the VINE to be so
inferior that the vintage may be
an Improbable one. The pres
ent season is threatening to be
such. June and July were cool
and wet in Germany, yet the
vines were full of fruit. A vint-
ager told me that 1t required a
hot August and many sunny days
to rlpen the grapes properly
thaG "the sun shone the fire into
the wine." In order to facilitate
the ripening, many of the leaves
and small branches are removed
from the vines in August las I
have stated in a former letter. to
give the sun better chance.
Now, to a novice it would ap-
pear a risky enterprise to at.
tempt to raise wine, yet it is a
very sure source of income. A
vintager told me that if there was
a first class vintage in every four
or five years, 1t would well pay
for all the hard labor during the
Improbable years, as the price
of the wine of such a year is fab.
ulous. When the fact is estab-
lished that the vintage will be
good one, the vintner inspects
the vineyard, calculates the value
of the crop, buys it and pays the
money right down. He will then
at the proper time come with his
outfit and gather the grapes
Down at the foot of the hill IN the
road stands the wagon with two
big vats on 1t. These vats have
very tight.ftting movable lids
Up among the vines are the
grape pickers, picking only the
incest and most perfect lunches
to make the highest quality of
wine,-not a decayed nor dis
eased berry must be used. Now,
there comes a man with some
thing on his back that looks like
barrel. 1t is fiat on the side to
his back and has straps for the
shoulders. He puts it on the
ground, takes out OF it queer
looking stick of wood. This is
the grape masher. Now come
the pickers and empty their bas-
kets of grapes into it, and he
mashes them as fast as they
come till the barrel is full. He
then carries it down the many
high steps to the wagon and emp
ties it into the vats until they are
full. They are then conveyed to
the press.
After the first quality of grapes
is gathered, the second grade is
gathered IN the same way. But
there still remains a third grade
of fruit which the contractor
does not want at all, so the owner
uses them-the best for his own
drink, the rest for vinegar. The
press is so located that a pipe
carries the grape juice right to
the wine vault into big vats,
where 1t remains until 1t has pu.
rified itself by fermentation. -
Through with that process, 1t Is
drawn of of the lees and put into
carefully purified casks which
are labeled with date when made
and locality where grown