use of these is now on the decline, and our growing intercourse with the continent has revived the taste for light wines. (Henderson's History of Wine.)

As far as concerns what is denominated home-made wines, there is scarcely any, if we except the Gooseberry (intended to imitate Champagne) and Raisin-wine, that merit any notice. Indeed, it is an incontrovertible fact, that grapes ripened on walls and trellises are in general unfit for the manufacture of wine; and, in this country, those cultivated under glass are too valuable for the desert and other purposes, in their recent state, to be employed for making wine. Still, however, to make home-made | wine forms one of the occupations of the wife of a farmer, and tolerable wine may be made with a mixture of raisins and grapes cultivated in the open air, in favourable seasons. The principles of winemaking are the same, whatever kind of fruit is employed in knowing, therefore, the manufacture of Grape-wine, it is easy to modify the process, so as to render it applicable to every other description of wine.

In a

well as the nature of the seasons. cold year, owing to the deficiency of the saccharine matter, the wine is weak, harsh, and acescent; in wet seasons it is devoid of a competent quantity of spirit: high winds and fogs are also injurious. In this country, the mode of training the vine high upon walls is a disadvantage for making the fruit into wine. In the best wine countries, it is never allowed to grow more than three or four feet high; and it is found that the bunches nearest to the soil, if they do not touch it, are always the richest. It is a mistake to suppose that sweet wines are the most susceptible of decomposition; on the contrary, they can be kept for almost an indefinite length of time without undergoing any deleterious change. All wines continue to suffer a certain degree of fermentation after they are racked off and put into casks; and as long as the saccharine matter is supplied to maintain this slow fermentation, the wine remains good; but, when that is exhausted, the acetous fermentation begins, and the wine is converted into vinegar.

The juice of the grape, when chemically analysed, is found to consist of a considerable portion of sugar and water, mucilage, tannic acid, bitartrate of potassa, tartrate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, chloride of sodium, sulphate of potassa, and a mucososaccharine principle, on which the fermentative process productive of the wine depends. Thénard, a distinguished French chemist, assures us that this substance excites the vinous fermentation by abstracting a portion of oxygen from the sugar, by means of its carbon, forming carbonic acid gas, whilst its hydrogen and the remaining oxygen and carbon of the sugar are converted into alcohol, the basis and exciting principle of all wines. When the must, or expressed juice of the grape, is exposed to a temperature of 65° Fahr., this chemical change or fermentation commences; an intestine motion takes place in the liquor; bubbles are evolved, which buoy up the grosser matter, increasing the bulk of the mass, and forming a scum upon the surface. An augmentation of temperature now takes place; the must loses its saccharine taste; it acquires a deeper colour than before, and a vinous flavour, which increases with the advancement of the process. After a few days, the fermentation gradually subsides, the mass returns to its original bulk, the scum sinks to the bottom of the vessel, the liquor becomes transparent, and it is now wine. The constitution of the must is liable to be greatly influenced by the quality, the variety, the climate, and the culture of the grapes, as

Admitting, however, the goodness of the fruit, and the wine to be made consequently expected to be excellent, many circumstances may destroy that hope, for the process does not proceed in the regular manner above described, unless certain rules be strictly observed: these are the following:-1. The grapes should be well and equally bruised or trodden; for the juice that first flows contains little mucososaccharine matter, and consequently does not ferment freely. That substance is contained chiefly in the insoluble organised parts and the skin, which also contains the greatest part of the acid, the resinous extractive, and the colouring principle. 2. The fermentation should be conducted at a temperature of 60° to 65° Fahr., below which it languishes, and above which it proceeds too violently. When it progresses too slowly, that evil may be remedied by the addition of a little boiling must. 3. The contact of air is essential in the commencement ; and this affords another reason for the good bruising of the fruit, as much air is absorbed in that stage of the process. But after the fermentation is established, the air should be excluded, for the sake of preserving the aroma; and to secure this, the French chemist, Chaptal, who paid much attention to the manufacture of wines, recommends the vats to be covered with boards and linen cloths. 4. The greater the bulk of material, the more perfect the wine. 5. When the wine is perfected and racked off, it should be sulphured by burning sulphur matches within the casks in

When good wine is actually produced, much of the advantage expected from the possession of it depends on the future management and preservation of it; for every wine contains within itself the sources of both improvement and decline. The chief points to be attended to are guarding against vicissitudes of temperature and the contact of air. Wines in the cask or wood, as the term is, are liable to become sour, either by a sudden transition from cold to heat, or the reverse; and the same susceptibility to ascescency is favoured by defect of proper fining; but this process should not be frequently repeated, as it impairs the flavour and the body of the liquor. Wines are mellowed by the slow precipitation of the tartar, which carries down with it the colouring matter and the salts of lime; and this occurs in the ratio of the evolution of the alcohol, during the continued gradual fermentation which goes on even after the wine is bottled. This would strengthen wine in the cask, were it not balanced by the evaporation of the alcohol through the sides of the cask. Old Rhenish wines kept in the barrel lose nearly one half of their original alcohol; yet it is an undoubted fact, that wine in bottles, not corked, but tied over with a bladder, becomes stronger: that membrane permitting water to pass through it, but not spirit. Another curious fact, however, must not be forgotten, namely, that whilst the wine becomes weaker when kept in cask, it becomes much improved in its other qualities; a fact which is illustrated by the transportation of Madeira to India, or keeping it in a warm place.

The adulteration of wine is too comprehensive a subject to be here fully treated of; but, independent of this evil, every foreign wine sent to this country, except the best of the Rhenish wines, contains much uncombined brandy, which tends not only to render them unwholesome, but impairs their original flavour, and risks their partial decomposition. Were our home-made wines free from this evil, it would tend greatly to encourage a new branch of trade which hat lately sprung up in Scotland, chiefly as Edinburgh, Leith, and Glasgow. From a parliamentary return, we find that 24,848 gallons, equal to nearly 150,000 bottles, were sent to England in 1839, and 23,089 gallons in 1840. Of the 24,848 in 1839, about 13,000 gallons were shipped from Leith, and 11,000 from Glasgow; and of the quantity in 1840, about 14,700 gallons went from Leith, and 7,000 from Glasgow.

In the present day, when temperance has made so favourable an impression o the habits of all classes of society, some remarks on the dietetic properties of wine be come essential in an article devoted to its other qualities. Were technical phraseology allowable, we should say that wine is stim lant and salutary in small, narcotic and poisonous in large quantities. This opine, however, neither implies that it is necessary as an ordinary article of diet, nor that it is deleterious even in the largest doses, as a medicinal agent. Wine, moderately used in the artificial state of modern civilised society, is not at all essential for the healthy, however occupied, except under exposure to unusual fatigue. But were this princ of necessity to guide the regulation of dis and beverage, the art of cookery would be annihilated; and the growth of wine, # well as the manufacture of every spiritus liquor, under whatever name it is ardent spirits, cyder, or malt liquor, weakd cease to exist. In noticing, therefore, th dietetic properties of wine, we must take society as we find it, not as it ought to be constituted. The stimulant operation of wine is exerted on the nerves of the stomach, and the secreting powers of the organ are influenced by these; and thasa beneficial effect results when the digeste powers are depressed. This, in a great degree, depends on the alcohol containe in the wine; yet it is a fact, that the same quantity of brandy diluted with water, the strength of wine, will cause intoxi tion more speedily than when it is taken in the form of wine, especially if the wine contains no uncombined alcohol. Th stimulant power of wine, however, depend on the quantity of alcohol in its compor tion; but this power is much greater those wines that contain adventitions and imperfectly combined spirit. On this se count, Port-wine is more apt to derange the stomach, and to cause intoxication, then Sherry of the same strength; and Clares Rhenish less than either. But besides the evils arising from wines containing bined brandy, those wines that contain much acid are usually deleterious to p sons of sedentary habits, or who have wea stomachs. Indeed, the daily use of the best wine can only be supported with ing by those who take much exercise in th open air. But, if we admit that we a necessary article of life for the beaity there can be only one opinion respect the superiority of the better kinds of B deaux. Whatever wine is taken, it sho not be conjoined with other sorts, thing impairs digestion more than minging several sorts of wine at one meal.

WINE.

Such are the general effects of the moderate use of wine; its abuse is so well known, both in reference to mind and body, that it is unnecessary to make a single remark, in this place, upon the subject, except to caution those who feel no immediate injurious effects from a pint of Port, or indeed of any wine, daily, not to rely too confidently upon their apparent powers of resisting its evil influence; for a foundation may be slowly formed for maladies, that, when they appear, are always difficult of cure, and often altogether irremediable.

They

With respect to the comparative value in reference to the wholesomeness of different wines, a few remarks may be necessary, before concluding this article. Among the brisk wines, Champagne is the least noxious, even when it is drank to excess, the excitement is of shorter duration, and the subsequent exhaustion is less. It is said to be hurtful to the gouty; but gout is almost unknown in the province where it is made; and more of the evil said to be caused by Champagne is due to the variety and the nature of the dishes, and the period of the day at which they are eaten, than to the wine itself. The red wines of Burgundy are strong, heating, and consequently intoxicating, and they should only be taken in very small quantity. The Bordeaux wines, as we have already stated, are the safest for daily use. certainly do not excite inebriety so rapidly as most other wines. The wines of Oporto abound in astringent matter, and in uncombined brandy. They are unfit for weak stomachs; they tend to cause sleep rather than to elevate the spirits, and they are the most pernicious as daily beverage. The Spanish wines, especially Sherries, are less objectionable, but they should never be drunk without dilution with water, unless for medicinal purposes. The same opinion may be hazarded with respect to Madeira; and perhaps no wine is more suited for the dyspeptic, if hypochondriasis be absent. The best light wines of the Rhine and the Moselle are, of all others, the most wholesome. They contain little alcohol, and that little is wholly combined. They prove, in many instances, refrigerant, and have a tendency, from the nature of the acid which they contain, the tartaric, to diminish obesity. Lastly, all sweet wines are apt to disorder the stomach; and when used freely they intoxicate as readily, and cause as deleterious subsequent effects as the stronger wines. But after all, we must revert to the opinion, that wine is an unnecessary article of diet for all who are healthy and robust; and must truly be regarded, beyond certain limits, either as a medicine or a poison. (Henderson's History of Ancient and Mo

trivance employed for separating, by an artificial current of air, the chaff from the grain, after it has been thrashed out of the straw. Various are the accounts, re

marks Mr. J. A. Ransome in his Treatise on the Implements of Agriculture, given of the introduction of this machine, and many the claimants for the credit of having been the first maker of this piece of mechanism in England or Scotland. All, however, agree that the idea, design, or model was originally furnished from Holland, earlier, however, than the date of any of these by at least a period of twenty years. We learn from the papers of Robert Somerville of Haddington, that in 1710, pursuant to articles of agreement between himself and Fletcher Laird of Saltoun, James Meikle (father to Meikle of thrashing-machine memory) visited Holland for the purpose of learning" the perfect art of sheeling barley," in order to the introduction of the barley mill. The same authority, 1805, states, " that on Meikle's return he made the first fanners which were seen in Britain;" and that these were in use only a few years before that date at the Saltoun barley mills. That the machine was not made public till many years afterwards may be attributed to a clause in the abovementioned agreement, by which Meikle was bound, on leaving Saltoun's service, "not to profit any more by this mill, nor communicate the arts he had learned to any other." In 1737, through the medium of Rogers of Cavers and others, it was brought into

more general use; and in 1768, A. and R. Meikle obtained a patent for a machine of this kind. Although a very considerable advantage over the plan of dressing by hand, these still appear to have been but very imperfect, the corn having to be passed through them twice or thrice in order to be perfectly separated. And in 1798, R. Douglas, in his "Agricultural Survey of Roxburghshire, remarking upon these defects, mentions an improvement invented by one Moodie of Lilliesheaf, "in which be had happily combined some properties of other fans, so that the grain at one opera tion could be both separated from the chaff and lighter seeds, and completely riddled of all sorts of refuse."

Other patents had been taken out which do not appear to have involved much real improvement, till, in 1800, L. Cooch of Northampton patented the machine which has since been known by his name, and ha obtained deserved commendation, being in use and approved beyond most at the pre sent day. This machine dresses all kinds of seeds, and its work is performed in s perfect manner: its principle involved more mechanical combinations than were at that time generally understood by the class fir whose use it was intended; and this, to gether with its then cost, retarded its more general adoption.

In 1839, T. F. Salter obtained a patent for a machine for winnowing and dressing corn and seeds, which at the R. A. S. E. meeting at Cambridge was exhibited, and obtained the silver medal.

In this invention are combined the principles of Grant's hummelling machine, described in British Husbandry, vol. xi. p. 204., and of Hall's smut machine (Loudon's Ency. of Agr. p. 439. fig. 403.), with the operations of the common winnower.

The undressed grain from the hopper passes through a cylindrical sieve, having within it a rotatory spindle, upon which short blunt arms are arranged in a spiral direction; these agitate the grain as it passes along, and thus separate the small dirt and dust as well as the awns of barley, which fall through in a closed box or cupboard. The cylinder is placed in a slanting direction, and is provided at each end with slides, which regulate the quantity and speed with which the grain shall pass. Through the slide aperture at the lower end the grain is introduced upon other sieves, which, having a backward and for

ward motion, distribute it equally over their surface when it is subjected to the blast of the fan, driving obliquely through the sieves; this carries the chaff out of the machine; the grain falls on a screen, which, having a similar motion to the sieves, separates from it all small seeds, and the dross corn is carried away in a division formed for the purpose. The grain, dross, corn, and chaff are thus all thoroughly separated from each other, and the dust, dirt, and small seeds, having fallen in an enclosed box from the cylinder, may be entirely removed.

We have heard this machine highly approved by many, and when pains are taken to separate the corn from the short straw, &c., previously to submitting it to the machine, we believe it to be very effective; but as there is some degree of complication in its details, it is chiefly suited to those to whom a high degree of excellence in the manner of "making up their corn" is a matter of more importance than the time or labour it may require.