/> husks, as is often the case in red wines, a false bottom should be

provided, for the purpose of holding the husks down below the surface

of the must. It is made to fit the size of the vat, and perforated with

holes, and held in its place by sticks of two inches square, let into

the bottom of the vat, and which go through the false bottom. A hole is

bored through them, and the bottom held down by means of a peg passed

through this hole. The vat is closed by a tight-fitting cover, through

which a hole is bored, large enough to admit a tin tube of about an

inch in diameter, to let off the gas. The vats are set high enough

above the ground to admit drawing off the must through a faucet near

the bottom of the vat. For those grapes which are to be pressed

immediately we need no false bottoms or covers for the vats. As

fermentation generally progresses very rapidly here, and it is not

desirable with most of our wines to ferment them on the husks very

long, as they generally have astringency enough, operations here are

much more simple than in Europe.



The must is generally allowed to run into a large funnel, filled with

oat straw, and passes through a hose into the casks in the cellar. A

hole can be left through the arch for that purpose, as it is much more

convenient than to carry the must in buckets from the press into the

casks.



It is sometimes desirable to stem the grapes, although it is seldom

practiced in this country. This can be easily done by passing the

bunches rapidly over a grooved board, made somewhat in the form of a

common washboard, only the grooves should be round at the bottom and

the edges on top. It is seldom desirable here.