the same wine that they contain. This is to prevent them from getting acid, for a small quantity of wine evaporates. After filling the casks, the bungs should be replaced.

If the wine is new some holes should be made in the bung, to allow of the escape of the gas generated by fermentation. If this precaution were not taken, the cask might burst.

If the wines are to be kept in casks for several years, they should be drawn out twice a year, in March and November, and put in other casks. This is to leave the lees at the bottom.

When wines have been travelling in very hot weather, they should be taken to the cellar, put upon the stands, and the bungs taken off for two or three days, to stop the fermentation. If, on the contrary, they have travelled in cold weather, their colour darkens; they should, in this case, be fined with white of eggs before bottling them (the whites of five eggs for a cask containing three hundred bottles).

When wines taste of mould, or wood, roast in a frying-pan the kernels of twelve nuts. Put them, quite hot, in a little bag, which you introduce into the cask, having fastened it at the top, and leaving the string outside, to remove the bag after two or three days. Draw the wine out of the cask, and put it in a new one, or bottle it. Sometimes wines which have been kept for a very long time become bitter; they should be mixed in equal quantities with new wines, drawn out, put in other casks, and used immediately.

(c) Vins en bouteilles (Wines in bottles).

Before putting wine in bottles, it should be fined ten or twelve days beforehand. There are two ways of fining wines :

First-with isinglass, for white wines;

Second-with whites of eggs for red wines.

First way :-Make a hole in the side of the cask with a gimlet, and draw out of it five bottles of wine fill up the hole with a peg. Put some isinglass in a tumbler of water, in the proportion of half an ounce for a cask. containing three hundred bottles. Let it melt; add it to a bottle of cold water, and mix well. Pass it through a towel, and pour it into the cask. Divide a small stick in four pieces, introduce it into the cask, and with it stir the contents, so as to mix thoroughly the isinglass with the wine.

Second way :-Make a hole in the side of the cask with a gimlet, draw out of it five bottles of wine, and fill up the hole with a peg.

Whip some whites of

eggs with a little water (the proportion is one white for twenty-five bottles). Pour the eggs into the cask, and stir with a stick divided in four.

Before bottling the wine, the bottles should be carefully rinsed two or three days before using them, and put the necks downwards in the bottle-boards. Some persons keep the bottle-boards in some other place than the cellar: it is a fault. The bottles being in the cellar a few days beforehand, arrive at the same temperature as the wine, which is a very good condition.

The best months for bottling wines are March, July (if it is not very hot), and October; however, if needful, it is possible to bottle wines at any time, provided the weather is dry.

A very important item for the keeping of wines is the quality of corks, and the way the bottles are corked. Always choose the best and finest kinds of corks, and never use them twice; they should also be dipped in cognac before being introduced into the bottles.

Some persons bury their bottles in sand or bran: --both ways are bad; sand spoils the corks, and bran keeps wine so warm that it makes it ferment. The best plan is to pile up bottles upon laths, that is, to put two laths upon one another on the ground to support the necks of the bottles, which must be on the side of the wall for the first line, leaving between the necks of the bottles a space sufficiently large to place the second line in the opposite direction. Before beginning the second line, place a lath upon the larger parts of the bottles of the first line, to support the necks of the second, and so on.

Some of the wine-merchants in Burgundy export directly to English customers. Messrs. Charles Rasse and Co., of Meursault and Vougeot, do so. I mention this house more particularly because they supply me satisfactorily.

ADDENDA.

Balls of Forcemeat.

Chop very fine about a quarter of a pound of roasted or boiled meat (fowl or game are the best), add to it half a pound of sausage meat, four ounces of bread crumbs soaked in broth, and the yolks of three eggs. Mix the whole together. Divide this forcemeat into small portions, and, after giving them the shape of a ball, roll them in flour, and poach them in broth.

If the balls are to be used for soup, let them remain in the broth; if they are to be served separately, drain them and pour upon them a sauce piquante. (See No. 54, page 29.)

If you want the forcemeat to be more delicate, add to it two or three truffles and a few mushrooms chopped together.

Biscuit de Savoie.

See Gâteau de Savoie, page 217.

Friture.

There are a great many ways of frying: some people use butter, others grease or lard-I prefer olive-oil;

U

it gives a beautiful colour, and a more delicate taste. (See the note, page 5.) To fry even the smallest fish a pound and a half of oil is required; for the fish, vegetables, or eggs must never touch the bottom of the pan, but remain on the surface of the oil.

If you do not like the taste of olive-oil, use fresh lard, to which you may add the grease taken off the roasts, stews or soups, suet and fat of any kind, provided it is melted first, then boiled with water and allowed to cool on the surface-when perfectly cold, take it off the top of the water with a skimming spoon and add it to your lard.

Friture should be kept in an earthen jar.

Noudles (How to make).

Knead a pound of flour with three eggs and a little salt; try to obtain a paste as stiff as possible. Take a small portion of it and roll it very thin. Put a towel upon the back of a chair and lay your sheet of paste upon it to dry. Do the same until no paste remains. When the sheets seem to be half dried, divide them in narrow ribbons with a paste-cutter, lay them out till they are quite dry.

Eufs en matelote.

Boil hard a dozen of eggs; let them become cold. Break off the shells, and cut the eggs through, lengthwise, with a sharp knife. Prepare a sauce matelote (see No. 52, page 27), put the eggs into it, let them simmer for five minutes, and serve.