also scarcely possible, that a person can be in any situation, either at sea or on land, but that he may procure such a one, in case the water he uses requires it. It is more than probable he can find some kind of a vessel in the bottom of which holes may be made: a piece of flannel or blanket to lay over the holes, or in lieu of these, some thicknesses of linen, or canvas, or even some hay, straw, or moss; any thing that will support the charcoal, and yet let the water pass through: and he can find a piece of wood, that by burning to a coal, and quenching, will furnish him with charcoal, which he may reduce to powder with a stone, or hammer, in default of a pestle and mortar, or a coffee-mill.

I am, Gentlemen,

Yours, &c.

No. 79, Great Titchfield-street.

JOHN I. HAWKINS.

Recipe for making Family Wine.

By Mr. W. MATTHEWS of Bath.

From the LETTERS and PAPERS of the BATH and WEST of ENGLAND SOCIETY.

HAVING

AVING in the tenth volume of the Society's Papers been indulged with the insertion of a few remarks on the utility of making family wines from several of our garden fruits; I took the liberty of presenting, at a subsequent general meeting, for its examination, a sample of such wine made under my own notice. It will be within the recollection of different gentlemen, who attended that meeting, that the wine they tasted was deemed a very good, pleasant-flavoured, and useful article.

e

*

article. The price at which it was made was considered as small, when compared with the uses to which the wine may be applied, even in genteel families, where economy is regarded. But the idea of making such an article in considerable quantities (especially in abundant fruit years), so as to have the power of furnishing sick and sickly poor persons with such occasional refreshment, could not pass unapproved. The oldest wine of this sort which I now have by me, is yet too young to give proof of that excellence, which three, four, or more years will give it; but it is now so rich and valuable, that I can have no hesitation about publishing the recipe by which it is made, and encouraging any of our members fully to rely upon it for success. The fruits used were of the different sorts mentioned in the recipe, excepting gooseberries, and I think nearly of equal quantities, taken out of a private garden, where they would otherwise have turned to very little account. My friends having fully convinced me, that if I give them white wine equally good with that produced, they will not call on me for foreign white wine, of at least five times the price; I have this year taken the advantage of a fine fruit season, and made several hogsheads. If I live to present the Society with a taste of it some years hence, I have no doubt of its being found worthy of their commendation.

I cannot conclude without repeating my recommendation to the owners of gardens in general, to all farmers easy circumstances, and country gentlemen especially, to regard this useful practice :-and that they may do it

in

*This will be from 2s. 6d. to 3s. per gallon, according to cir cumstances.

to

1

to the greater advantage, the increased cultivation of the black currant plant seems essential: It is easy of increase, greatly productive, and its fruit, in general, can scarcely form too large a proportion of the mixture Recipe,

Take, black currants,

red ditto,

white ditto,

ripe cherries (black hearts are the best),

rasberries,

each an equal, or nearly an equal quantity. If the black currants be the most abundant, so much the better.-To 4lb of the mixed fruit, well bruised, put one gallon of clear soft water. Steep three days and nights, in open vessels, frequently stirring up the mass. Then strain through a hair sieve. The remaining pulp press to dryness. Put both liquids together, and to each gallon of the whole put 3lb. good, rich, moist sugar, of a bright yellowish appearance. Let the whole stand again three days and nights, frequently stirring up as before, after skimming off the top. Then tun it into casks, and let it remain, full and purging at the bung-hole, about two weeks. Lastly, to every 9 gallons put one quart of good brandy, and bung down. If it does not soon drop fine, a steeping of isinglass may be introduced, and stirred into the liquid, in the proportion of about half an ounce to nine gailons.

N. B. Gooseberries, especially the largest, richflavoured, may be used in the mixture to great advantage; but it has been found the best way to prepare them separately, by more powerful bruising, or pounding, so as to form the proper consistence in pulp; and by putting six quarts of fruit to one gallon of water, pouring on the water at twice; the smaller quantity at VOL. XIII. SECOND SERIES.

H

night,

night, and the larger the next morning. This process, finished as aforesaid, will make excellent wine, unmixed; but this fluid, added to the former mixture, will sometimes improve the compound.

An Enquiry into the Causes of the Decay of Wood, and the Means of preventing it. By Dr, PARRY.

From the LETTERS and PAPERS of the BATH and WEST of ENGLAND SOCIETY.

THE power of wood in different forms to supply luxury, to promote science, and to guard and prolong human life, has made the means of preserving it from decay highly interesting to mankind. With this view various premiums have been offered by this and other economical societies. The object of the following discussion is to suggest the best means of prevention, chiefly by inquiring into the nature and sources of the evil against which it is intended to guard.

Wood, when killed by being separated from its root, is subject to gradual destruction from two causes-rotting, and the depredations of insects.

Of the rot there are two supposed kinds, as they affect wood, first, in the open air, or secondly, under cover.

The first is that which in the terms of our premium, Class VII. No. 3, is said to occur to "barn and other outside-doors, weather-boarding, gates, stiles, and implements of husbandry." To which, if there were any need of this minute specification, might have been added posts, rails, paling, water-shoots, and various other objects.

The second is well known under the name of the dryrot, the cause and prevention of which are the subjects of a premium by the Society of Arts in London,

Animal and vegetable substances possess certain common properties and movements, which constitute what is called life. When that state ceases, and these properties and motions no longer exist, the bodies become subject to the chemical and mechanical laws of all other

matter.

When perfectly dry, and in certain degrees of tem perature, both seem to be scarcely capable of spontane ous decay. On this principle vast quantities of salmon are annually conveyed in a frozen state to London from the North of England and Scotland; and the inhabitants of the still more Northern regions constantly preserve their food by freezing, unchanged through the longest winters. The gelatinous and other soluble parts of ani mal substances, when extracted by boiling, and kept in a soft moist state, very readily putrefy. But if the same matter be dried by a gentle heat, and secluded from moisture and air by being kept in bottles or metallic cases, it will remain very long without decay. This is the theory of that well-known and useful substance, portable soup. In the burning climate of Africa, when it is intended to preserve a dead animal for food, all that is necessary is to cut the muscular parts into thin strips, from which, in a few hours, the heat of the sun exhales all moisture, reducing them to a substance like leather -er horn, which proves to be unsusceptible of future decay from putrefaction. So also entire human badies, buried in the arid sands of those countries, have often been found converted by exhalation and absorption of their natural moisture into a dry hard sort of mummy, incapable of any farther change from the agency of those causes, to which, in such situations, they are exposed.