DRINKS.
63
and
preparing
the
fruit,
fining,
bottHng,
and
storing.
A
correspondent
of
the
Gardeners
Chronicle
gives
a
receipt
for
beer
wine,
a
beverage
which
has
puzzled
many
connoisseurs.
The
curious
may
find
it
also
quoted
in
Vine's
brochure.
The
manufacture
of
home-made
wines
is
familiar.
An
excellent
wine
is
sometimes
made
from
a
mixture
of
the
fruits
above
mentioned,
as,
for
instance,
that
from
gooseberries
and
currants.
All
home-made
wines
are
prone
to
run
into
acetous
fermentation
without
the
addition
of
a
due
proportion
of
pure
spirits.
Plums
or
sloes,
with
other
ingredients,
can,
it
is
said,
be
turned
into
excellent
fruity
port,
the
''very
choice"
kind,
silky,
soft,
and
full
bodied.
A
wine
said
to
be
agreeable
is
also
made
from
the
red
berries
of
the
mountain
ash
or
service-tree
{pyrus
aiicuparid).
Birch
wine
is
still
made
in
some
parts
of
England.
Morewood
gives
a
long
receipt
for
its
manufacture.
Like
most
other
wines,
it
improves
greatly
with
age.
This
is
especially
true
of
parsnip
Avine.
From
potatoes
which
have
suffered
a
sort
of
malting
from
frost,
a
tolerable
wine
has
been
obtained.
It
is
said
—
but
there
are
people
who
will
say
anything
—
that
a
great
portion
of
the
champagne
drunk
in
this
country
is
made
from
sugar
and
green
gooseberries.
Rhubarb
wine
has
been
affirmed
to
be
synonymous
with
British
champagne.
The
reader
anxious
on
this
subject
may
consult
Dr.
Shannon's
elaborate
Treatise
on
Brewing.
Cowslip
wine
is
all
too
like
some
of
the
Muscatel
wines
of
Southern
France,
and
the
wine
of
the
Sambucus
nigra
has
been
more
than
once,
through
some
unlucky
accident,
confused
with
Frontignac.