The name is absent

AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.

wards presents little variety in the style of cultivation.
Tlie vines are kept low, and all rank shoots are pinched
off at various periods, that all the strength of the plant
may be left for the formation of the fruit. The vines,
planted with the care described some pages back, have
three stakes set, one near the stock, and two at two
feet distance on each side in the line of the meridian, that
is to say, in the line running from the top to the bottom of
the slope. The space between the rows is thus left free
for the rays of the sun to penetrate and to shine on three
sides of the bunch. Between the rows in well kept
grounds not a weed is to be seen, and the soil is turned
over with a two-pronged pickaxe, two feet deep at least,
three times, but often four or five times, in the course of
the summer. Cow-dung is exclusively applied in con-
siderable quantities every three years.

At Riidesheim is a cellar, belonging to the Duke of
Nassau, at which the curious traveller late in the autumn
can see the pains that are taken in making the choicest
wines. Both red wine from the Ducal vineyard at Ass-
manshausen and white Riidesheimer are made in this
cellar, the arrangements in which may serve as a model.
The grapes are allowed to hang at Assmanshausen until
they begin to shrink ; but not until they moulder, as is the
case with the white grapes. It is necessary to preserve
the colouring matter under the skin in order to dye the
wine red. In other respects the treatment is nearly the
same in both cases. The grapes after gathering are
trodden into a mash by men with great leathern boots,
and the vats are removed to Riidesheim, when the red
grapes are thrown on a wire grating laid upon the butts
into which they are to fall, and are separated from the

AGRICULTURE OX THE RHINE.

stalks by rubbing them to and fro with a broom. In
these butts the grapes are again bruised with wooden
clubs until no berry remains unbroken, when they are
removed to another compartment of the building. Here
the bruised grapes are throw n into large casks placed on
end, each of which has a double top. The inner covering
is pierced with holes, and is fitted in about one-third
lower than the outer top, which is made air-tight.
During the fermentation nothing but juice and gas can
pass through the holes in the inner covering, which sinks
in proportion as the juice rises. A curved tin pipe two
inches in diameter is introduced into the air-tight cover,
the lower end of which rests in a pan filled with water,
which is changed every day. By this simple apparatus
the escape of the alcohol with the carbonic acid gas that
developes itself in the fermenting process is prevented,
and the too rapid fermentation being checked, the mixture
remains sweeter than it w^,ould if fermented in open ves-
sels.. The transition of the sugar in the grape to alcohol
is prevented in Italy by closing the cask entirely, and not
allowing even the carbonic gas to escape. In this manner
the Aleatico and other sweet red wines that do not keep
are prepared. On the Rhine the grower strives to pro-
duce a rich beverage, and at the same time wine that
will stand the test of time.

Red wines are fermented before the grapes are pressed
that the colouring matter maybe extracted from the skin.
White wines are pressed first and the juice only is usually
set to ferment. At Riidesheim the juice is drawn out of
the fermenting casks by means of a pipe communicating
with the cellar below. The residue is then pressed, and
the juice is added to that previously obtained, or kept

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