perfect berries.

3. Mash the grapes with a beater in a tub, or by passing them through a
cider-mill. "_Treading the wine vat_" was the ancient method of mashing
the grapes, not now practised except in some parts of Europe.

4. To make light wines put them at once into press, as apple pomace in a
cider-press.

5. To make higher-colored wines let the pomace stand from four to
twenty-four hours before pressing. They will be dark in proportion to
the length of time the pomace stands.

6. To make wines resembling the Austere wines of France and Spain, let
the pomace stand until the first fermentation is over, called
"fermenting in the skin."

7. The "must" or grape-juice is to be put into casks, the larger the
better, but only one pressing should be put into one cask. Put in a
cellar of even temperature, not lower than fifty nor higher than
sixty-five degrees of Fahrenheit, and where there is plenty of air.

Prepare the cask by burning in it a strip of paper or muslin, dipped in
melted sulphur, and suspended by a wire across the bung-hole.
Fermentation commences very soon and will be completed within a few days
or weeks according to the temperature. Its completion is marked by the
cessation of the escape of gas. No sugar, brandy, or any other
substance, should be added to the grape-juice to make good wine. They
are all adulterations. The wine having settled after this fermentation,
may be racked off into clean casks, prepared as before. A second
fermentation will take place in the spring. It should not be bottled
until after this second fermentation, as its expansion will break the
glass. While in the casks they should always be kept full, being
occasionally filled from a small cask, kept for the purpose. When this
fermentation ceases, bottle and cork tight, and lay the bottles on their
sides, in a cool cellar. The wine will improve with age.

Sometimes it remains on the lees without racking and is drawn off and
bottled. Frequently the wine does not become wholly clear and needs
fining. Various substances are used for this purpose, as fish-glue,
charcoal, starch, rice, milk, &c. The best of these substances is
charcoal, or the white of eggs and milk. Add by degrees according to the
foulness of the wine. An ounce of charcoal to a barrel of wine is an
ordinary quantity; or a pint of milk with the white of four eggs--more
or less according to the state of the wine.

_Rhine Wine_ of Germany may be made as follows:--