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MIXED DRINKS.
sunk througk solid chalk. From the main shaft there
ar« three lateral galleries which connect with each other
by staircases. These galleries hold the millions of hot-
ties of champagne which are the necessary equipment
of a first-rate modern Reims house. The vertical shaft,
is of course for mechanical purposes only. Here is a
machine and an endless chain, which lift the wine to
the surface in cases. The wine is made (if the word
may be used where 'fabricated' would not do equally
well) below,and packed for exporation above.
"The temperature in these gloomy corridors cut in
the native rock never variesfrom about 46° Fahrenheit.
In winter the men enjoy it for its mildness, but in sum
mer it seems far from genial. The excessive dampness,
too, must be prejudicial in many cases. If you touch
the heavy canvas screens which divide the galleries, you
feel that you could squeeze quarts of water from them,
and the walls of course reek with moisture. Yet there
is really not a degree too much of cold, nor one drop
too much of humidity,in the cellars. All this is neces
sary to tame the high spirits of the champagne wine.
The loss by bursting bottles is enormous,even under
these conditions of discomfort for moi'tals and restraint
for wine.
. "There is electric light in the cellars, but its lustre