OCR Text |
Show COMMON VINE, COMMON VINE. 158 4 et ‘eo x, ue es enONALagSORE 3. Ripening in October, red Hamburgh, black ditto. The grapes of both large. Tender vines, seldom ripening unless the autumn proves very warm and mild; and are therefore often planted against hotwalls, hot-houses, and forcing-frames. 1. Ripening in September, red Frontiniac; grisly ditto ; white ditto; white muscat of Alexandria; red ditto. 2, Ripening in October, St. Peter’s; ‘Tokay; white Syrian exceeding large cluster); red raisin; white ditto ; claret. The hot-house ripens some of the early sorts in May and June, others in July and August. The vine, besides in England, grows in temperate situations in many parts of the world, andis cultivated very generally for the sakeofits agreeable subacid fruit. Before they are ripe, grapes are extremely harsh andacid, and by expression furnish a liquor whichis called verjuice. It contains malic acid, super-tartrate of potass, and extractive, and may be madeto furnish wine by the addition of sugar. Raisins.—As the grape advances to maturity, the quantity of sugar in it increases, while that of malic acid diminishes: by this means not only the water they containedis dissipated, but the quantity of acid seems to be diminished. They become more saccharine, mucilaginous, aud laxative than the recent grape, but are less cooling. PREPARATIONS. Ratstn Wine. To one gallon of water put six gallons of sunraisins; let it stand in a tub twelve days, stir frequently, press the raisins as dry as possible, and put the liquor into a cask of the proper size: to ten gallons put a quart of brandy. If you wish to make it very rich, you may put seven pounds of raisins to 4 gallon, and dissolve five pounds of sugar-candy in the liquor, before you put it into the barrel; when made thus it must stand longer, andis scarcely inferior to any foreign wine. SuErRy. (Vinum album Hispanum. E. Vinum. L.) Wineis the juice of the grape altered by fermentation. The numerous varieties of wine depend principally on the proportion of sugar contained in the must, and the mannerof its ferment#tion. When the proportion of sugar is sufficient, and the fer- 159 mentation complete, the wine is perfect and generous: if the quantity of sugar be too large, part of it remains undecomposed, as the fermentation is languid, and the wine is sweet andluscious if, on the contrary, it be too small, the wine is thin and weak § andif it be bottled before the fermentation be completed, it wilt proceed slowly in the bottle, and, on drawing the cork, the wine will sparkle in the glass, as, for example, Champaigne. When the must is separated from the husk of the grape before it is fermented, the wine has little or no colour: these are called white wines. If, on the contrary, the husks are allowed to remain in the must while the fermentation is going on, the als cohol dissolves the colouring matter of the husks, and the wine is coloured such are called red wines. Besides, in these prins cipal circumstances wines vary much in flavour. The red wines most commonly drunk in this country are Port, which is strong and austere, containing much tannin, and claret, which is thins ner and higher flavoured. Our white wines are all strong, Mas deira, Sherry, Lisbon, Malaga, and Hock. Of these Hock is the most acidulous, and Malaga the sweetest, MEDICAL USE. Wine, taken in moderate quantities, acts as a beneficialstimulus to the whole system. It promotes digestion, increases the action of the heart and arteries, raises the heat of the body, and exhilarates the spirits. Taken to excess, it produces inebriety, which is often succeeded by head-ach, stupor, nausea, aad diarrhoea, which last for several days. Habitual excess in wine debilitates the stomach, produces inflammation of the liver, Weakens the nervous system, and gives rise to dropsy, gout, apoplexy, and cutaneous affections. One cannot but lament that a remedy so extremely useful should beso difficult to procure genuine,forit isa knownfact that dear things are always sophisticated ; and I would here remark, that Providence has with consummate wisdom diversified climates, and hence productions, to create a spirit of intercourse, barter, ortrade; and that when any government, through a narrow, contracted, sneaking jealousy, prohibits by duties the purchase of such a necessary as wine, of a neighbour, that this act is a sin Rage: the omnipotent Creator, and productive to mankind of the highest calamity, and all good men should endeavour to open the eyes of such rulers, and make themsensible of both the wicked. |