The Art of Living in Australia: Together with Three Hundred Australian Cookery Recipes and Accessory Kitchen Information by Mrs. H. WickenMuskett, Philip E.
Science
The Art of Living in Australia: Together with Three Hundred Australian Cookery Recipes and Accessory Kitchen Information by Mrs. H. Wicken
Muskett, Philip E.
Australia -- Social life and customs; Cooking, Australian; Health; Hygiene
"There is in this country good soil, and a climate which cannot be
equalled for the successful cultivation of the vine. Capital is
plentiful, and the people very enterprising; so there remains only the
want of Technical Instruction, by the institution of practical schools
of Viticulture, without which it is doubtful if ever its vignerons will
succeed in making wines likely to be appreciated in the foreign
markets."
In the same way Mr. J.A. Despeissis, of the New South Wales Department
of Agriculture, also insists upon cellar cleanliness. And it would
seem, indeed, that there is ample justification for his deprecatory
remarks. It appears that on several occasions he has noticed fowls and
pigeons roosting in the wine cellars. Now, as he pungently observes,
the wine cellar was never intended for this sort of thing. Another way
of putting the matter would be to point out what a mad thing it would
be to use a fowl house as a cellar. Moreover, he gives minute
directions for disinfecting the cellar, in order to destroy any germs
or minute organisms which may be lurking in crevices or in odd corners.
This is best accomplished by burning some sulphur in earthenware pots,
distributed over various parts of the cellar; previously seeing that
all the windows and gaps are rendered air-tight by means of bagging.
The fumes should be left in the cellar--for a day or two, after which
the doors are opened, and a free current of air allowed to sweeten the
whole place.
Moreover, a model cellar is necessarily a very elaborate affair,
considering it is the laboratory, so to speak, in which the wine is
created. A model cellar would consist of the following six
compartments:--
* 1. The section for the first treatment of the grape.
*
* 2. The fermentation department.
*
* 3. The section for the preparation and storing, of the new wine.
*
* 4. The underground cellar for the storage of the matured wine.
*
* 5. The bottle department.
*
* 6. The distillation department and for the utilization of the refuse
of wine.
*
The cellar of Mr. Henley, near the Ovens River, in Victoria, is very
complete. It is provided with a steam lift, a steam crushing machine,
and a steam pump, while there is perfect ventilation and a uniform
temperature. His cellar is divided into three compartments: the
fermenting house in the middle, the cellar for the new wine, and the
cellar for the old wine. The building is 83 feet by 80 feet, built of
brick, with double walls 9 inches thick outside and 4 inches inside,
and between the walls there is 4 1/2 inches of space. The temperature
on the hottest days in the summer never surpasses 80 degrees Fahrenheit;
and, lastly, the floors, both of the cellars and the fermenting house, are
cemented for the purpose of absolute cleanliness.
THE MAKING OF THE WINE--THE GATHERING OF THE GRAPE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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