The Cultivation of The Native Grape, and Manufacture of American WinesHusmann, George
Science
The Cultivation of The Native Grape, and Manufacture of American Wines
Husmann, George
Viticulture -- United States; Wine and wine making -- United States
Let us glance for a few moments at this wonderful, simple, and yet so
complicated process, to give a clearer insight into the functions which
man has to perform to assist Nature, and have her work for him, to
attain the desired end. I cannot put the matter in a better light for
my readers than to quote again from DR. GALL. He says:--"To form a
correct opinion of what may and can be done in the manufacture of wine,
we must be thoroughly convinced that Nature, in her operations, has
other objects in view than merely to serve man as his careful cook and
butler. Had the highest object of the Creator, in the creation of the
grape, been simply to combine in the juice of the fruit nothing but
what is indispensable to the formation of that delicious beverage for
the accommodation of man, it might have been still easier done for him
by at once filling the berries with wine already made. But in the
production of fruits, the first object of all is to provide for the
propagation and preservation of the species. Each fruit contains the
germ of a new plant, and a quantity of nutritious matter surrounding
and developing that germ. The general belief is, that this nutritious
matter, and even the peculiar combination in which it is found in the
fruit, has been made directly for the immediate use of man. This,
however, is a mistake. The nutritious matter of the grape, as in the
apple, pear, or any similar product, is designed by Nature only to
serve as the first nourishment of the future plant, the germ of which
lies in it. There are thousands of fruits of no use whatever, and are
even noxious to man, and there are thousands more which, before they
can be used, must be divested of certain parts, necessary, indeed, to
the nutrition of the future plant, but unfit, in its present state, for
the use or nourishment of man. For instance, barley contains starch,
mucilaginous sugar, gum, adhesive matter, vegetable albumen, phosphate
of lime, oil, fibre and water. All these are necessary to the formation
of roots, stalks, leaves, flowers and the new grain; but for the
manufacture of beer, the brewer needs only the first three substances.
The same rule applies to the grape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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