Home-Made Wines. The various processes in domestic wine-making resemble those employed for foreign wine, and depend upon the same principles. The fruit should be preferably gathered in fine weather, and not till it has arrived at a proper state of maturity, as evinced by its flavor when tasted; for if it be employed while unripe, the wine will be harsh, disagreeable, and unwholesome, and a larger quantity of sugar and spirit will be required to render it palatable. The common practice of employing unripe gooseberries for the manufacture of wine arises from a total ignorance of the scientific principles of wine-making. On the other hand, if fruit be employed too ripe, the wine is apt to be inferior, and deficient in the flavor of the fruit. The fruit being gathered, it next undergoes the operation of picking, for the purpose of removing the stalks and unripe or damaged portion. It is next placed in a tub, and well bruised. Raisins are commonly permitted to soak about 24 hours previously to bruising them, or they may be advantageously bruised or minced in the dry state. The bruised fruit is then put into a vat or vessel with a guard or strainer placed over the tap-hole, to keep back the husks and ' seeds of the fruit when the must or juice is J drawn off. The water is now added, and the whole macerated for 30 or 40 hours, more or less; during which time it is frequently stirred up with a suitable wooden stirrer. The liquid portion is next drawn off, and the residuary pulp is placed in hair bags and undergoes the operation of pressing, to expel the fluid it contains. The sugar, tartar, etc.. (in very fine powder, or in solution), are now added to the mixed liquor, and the whole is well stirred. The temperature being suitable (generally from 75° to 85° Fahr.), the vinous fermentation soon commences, when the liquor is frequently skimmed (if necessary) and well stirred up, and, after 3 or 4 days of this treatment, it is run into casks, which should be quite filled, and left open at the bung-hole. In about a week the flavoring ingredients, in the state of coarse powder, are commonly added, and well stirred in, and in about another week, depending upon the state of the fermentation and the attenuation of the must, the brandy or spirit is added, and the cask filled up, and bunged down close. In 4 or 5 weeks more the cask is again filled up, and, after some weeks - the longer the better -it is " pegged " or " spiled," to ascertain if it be fine or transparent; if so, it undergoes the operation of racking; but if, on the contrary, it still continues muddy, it must previously pass through the process of fining. Its future treatment is similar to that of foreign wine. The must of many of the strong-flavored fruits, as black currants, for instance, is improved by being boiled before being made into wine; but the flavor and bouquet of the more delicate fruits are diminished, if not destroyed, by boiling.

728. General Receipt for the Preparation of Home-Made "Wine from Ripe Saccharine Fruits

728. General Receipt for the Preparation of Home-Made "Wine from Ripe Saccharine Fruits. I. Ripe fruit, 4 pounds; clear soft water, 1 gallon; sugar, 3 pounds; cream of tartar, dissolved in boiling water, l1/4 ounces; brandy, 2 to 3 per cent. Flavoring as required. Makes a good family wine. II. As the last, using 1 pound more each of fruit and sugar. A superior wine.

III. As the first, adding 2 pounds each fruit and sugar. Very strong. Is good without brandy, but better with it. 11/2 pounds of raisins may be substituted for each pound of sugar above. In the above way may be made the following wines:- gooseberry wine, currant wine (red, white or black); mixed fruit wine (currants and gooseberries; or black, red, and white currants, ripe black-heart cherries, and raspberries, equal parts). This is a good family wine. Cherry wine; Colepress's wine, (from apples and mulberries, equal parts); elder wine; strawberry wine; raspberry wine; mulberry wine (when flavored makes port); whortleberry (sometimes called huckleberry) wine; makes a good factious port; blackberry wine; morella wine; apricot wine; apple wine • grape wine, etc..