After having carefully closed the vats with covers, the sulphide of carbon is conducted into them from a higher reservoir; about 7000 kilos. being required for the daily manufacture, of which, however, only 28 kilos. are lost, that is to say about 4 per cent. From the bottom of the vat, the solution of oil in the sulphide of carbon trickles out in a thread-like manner, and becomes clearer, until at last the sulphide runs quite pure. This indicates the precise moment when the seed is completely deprived of oil, and steam is then substituted for the sulphide, of which it entirely removes all traces. The vats are now uncovered and reversed, in order to eject the exhausted matter, which is taken up by the lifts and passed successively through three mill-hoppers heated by steam; lastly, it is again ground, when it forms an alimentary powder, containing 5.3 per cent. of nitrogen, and saleable at 15.15 francs the hundred kilos. The mixture of oil and sulphide of carbon extracted from the vat washings is purified with steam, distilled twice, and cooled in three large worms passed through refrigerators. It is then rectified, which renders it capable of employment in new operations, after being restored to the original reservoir. The trade price of sulphide of carbon is from 0.79 fr. to 0.85 fr. the kilogramme, but costs the manufactory of Moabit rather less, as it is made on the premises. The oil thus obtained is sold as lamp oil after being deprived of color; and by submitting it to a chemical process, a superior oil for purposes of lubrication is produced, possessing the advantage of being and remaining extremely fluid. Another oil is also manufactured, specially adapted to the lubrication of railway-carriage axles, inspissating at a very low temperature only. Four large wroughtiron reservoirs of 7.416 cubic metres each hold large quantities of oil, and a steam-engine of 12-horse power, with two boilers and a pressure of two atmospheres, give all the power and steam necessary for operation, transport, &c. The daily fabrication of 2-570 kilos. only requires the work of six men; and the careful analyses of MM. Birner, of Regenwalde, and Karsten, of Kiel, could only find in the residue 2 per cent. of oil and 7 per cent. of water, whilst in the residue from the common method of pressing, 9 per cent. of oil and 15 per cent. of water were discovered. The question has been much discussed as to whether colza oilcake be a beneficial food for cattle; it depends on the object in view. The experience of M. Strengeld, of Tharand, proves that when cattle are young and have not attained their full growth, the colza oil-cake is advantageous, as the growth of animals requires food richer in nitrogen and phosphoric acid than in fatty matter; it is also beneficial to milch cows. fattening cattle, aliments richer in fatty matter are preferable. These remarks will explain the contradictory opinions held by different agriculturists.-Chem. News, August 21, 1868, from (Preussische Annalen der Landwirthschaft.) For NOTE ON SHERRY WINE. When treating last year of Port, it will be remembered that we drew special attention to the prevalent custom of over-fortifying, and our observations called forth such confident denials and out-spoken resentment, that we felt constrained to give copious quotations from official reports in confirmation of the conclusions at which we had arrived. These conclusions are, we may fairly boast, now undeniable, and we are confident that what we have to say now upon sherry will be hereafter recognized as equally authoritative. Yet, as there are plenty of captious persons abroad who know not to what our experiments tend, and are more deferential to authority of a different kind, we shall precede our own statements by those of an official sent to investigate the wines of Spain and Portugal, and to whom we have before had occasion to refer. We allude to Mr. Charles Bernard, assistant-surgeon at H. M. Customs, whose accuracy has never been impugned, and from whom we extract the following paragraphs, which contain a just estimate of the matter up to the time of our taking up the inquiry;— "The large shippers and vineyard proprietors of Spain and Portugal are, and have been for a long period of time, manufacturers rather than simple producers of wine. The practice said to be followed in other countries, of merely watching and aiding nature in the development of fermentation, has here superadded to it a system of mixing and fortifying that tends to produce an intoxicating rather than a purely exhilarating beverage. "An opinion seems generally prevalent among the growers and shippers that natural wines will not maintain themselves. sound unless assisted by the addition of distilled spirit. Even to some extent, where it is not the practice to add spirit to the 'must,' as in the case of the Montilla, Val-de-penas, &c., it is usual, and considered necessary, before the wines are made up for exportation, to add spirit to a greater or less amount. I am not prepared to endorse this statement fully. "It may be as well to give here a resumé of the general practice in the Xeres districts of preparing wines. "No spirit is added to the 'must' during the process of manufacture or pressing the grape at the vineyard, unless it is intended to be made 'sweet wine,' and then six arobas (equal to about twenty-one gallons of spirit, about 60 per cent. over proof) are added, in order to prevent fermentation, and to retain its sweetness; and when this sweet wine is drawn off the lees, about six months after it is made, three or four gallons more spirit are added, making in all between twenty-four and twentyfive gallons spirit to the butt. The sweet wine is not usually exported, but is used for the preparation of other wines intended for the English market, and is added to other wines to give body, flavor, and strength, in such proportion as is deemed necessary according to the style and taste required. "The wines intended for white dry wines, and eventually to be made up into what is known in England as 'sherry,' have about two gallons of spirit added to the butt when drawn off the lees in the month of March or April following the vintage, and during the rearing of them further small quantities, from time to time, as required. These wines selected for vino fino, Amontillado, and Manzanilla, in lieu of having spirit added to them, are thrown on to Soleras; or fine old mother wines which, by age, care, and attention, have acquired a body and character, and which are used in mixing with other wines, to improve them. The stocks of Soleras are always kept up in the following manner : Say 20 butts, 1841; half drawn off for use. 20 butts, 1842; half thrown into 1841. 20 butts, 1843; half thrown into 1842. And so on from year to year, the younger wine being thrown on to the wine of the year previous. "Notwithstanding the quantity of spirit (two gallons) used in rearing wine (not Amontillado, vino fino, and Manzanilla) it is usual, when it is made up into sherry for England, to add at the time of using it, from two to four gallons more spirit, according to the quality and age of the wine. There is, however, no standard sherry made up, and no regulated quantity of spirit used, as that depends both on the character desired by the purchaser, and (a most important consideration) on what the wine itself requires. "A butt of sherry for England is made up in 40 jars in various proportions; thus, for example : 1 Jar, spirit, about 60 over proof. 14 Jars, dry wine, 1859. 40 “The Amontillado is entirely a chance wine, that is, it cannot be made as a matter of course, or reckoned upon with any certainty, insomuch as out of 50 butts of wine made at the same vineyard, under the same circumstances and with the same kind of grapes, probably only two or three will turn out to be wine of this character. No reason, however, can be assigned for its partaking of the peculiar flavor, &c., of Montilla wine, from which it derives its name. "When the wines are classified in the spring, those which from their taste and style are likely to turn out Amontillado and vino fino are marked in a certain manner, put aside, and are carefully watched and reared, but it does not unfrequently happen that, after the selection, they fall off, and become sick and out of order, when they are treated in the same way as other ordinary white wines, and spirit is added in the proportion deemed requisite to secure them from spoiling; should the wine, however, not recover under this treatment, and acetic fermentation supervene, it is then sent for distillation into brandy. "The wine of Benicarlo intended for exportation is fortified to the extent of five gallons per pipe, though two and a half gallons would be considered sufficient to preserve it for home use. Here, again, but little stock is kept on hand, each year's produce being generally sold for exportation, or consumed by the time the new wine is made; and it was impossible to procure samples of natural wine of former vintages."-From Med. Press and Circular-Dublin, Aug. 26, 1868. MITCHELLA REPENS, L., A DIŒCIOUS PLANT. A few weeks ago I had the honor of pointing out to the members of the Academy that Epigaa repens was a dioecious plant. I have now to report a like discovery in Mitchella repens. In the case of Epigaa I had to indicate the polymorphism accompanying the divisions of the sexes, as part of the discovery; in the present instance Dr. Asa Gray is before me in noting the distinct appearances; the originality of my own observation lies merely in giving the meaning of the facts already recorded. In the last (5th) edition of Gray's Manual, speaking of Mitchella, the author says, "Flowers occasionally 3-6, merous, always dimorphous, all those of some individuals having exserted stamens and included stigmas,-of others included stamens and exserted style." Although this statement expresses the appearance, it is not strictly accurate; for the pistil in the one case is not perfect, and in the other the anthers are mere rudiments, without a trace of pollen in any that I have examined. The two forms are truly male and female plants. |