Observations on the character and culture of the European vine, during a residence of five years in the vine growing district of France, Italy and Switzerland

Front matter

Book > 1 f)3_

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHARACTER AND CULTURE OF THE

EUROPEAN VINE,

Preface

In submitting to the agricultural community the following pages, I am incited by a deep conviction of the importance of the subject. Having long entertained a predilection for the Vine, I have been naturally led to an investigation of the habits of the plant, and an observation of the different methods of vine dressing in those countries where fortune has thrown me.

During a residence of five years in the vine districts of France, Switzerland, and Italy, I had the most favourable opportunities — ^particularly in Switzerland — to study the theory, and observe the practice of their cultivation and wine making; to inquire of intelligent proprietors the results of their operations and investments; to mix with the vine dressers in the several divisions of labour; and to compare with the agriculture of our country the expenses and returns of the land holder and farmer, under their peculiar circumstances and different cultivation. The result is, a decided conviction of the profits of vine growing, and a settled belief, that by adopting the system oi Swiss cultivation, we shall in time succeed in the difficult task of acclimating to our country, the foreign vine. There is perhaps no vine country of Europe — certainly none which I have seen — where the cultivation of the Grape has attained so great a perfection, and where the results ol the vintage are so mediocre; where the vine-

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yard blooms in vernal luxuriancy, the summer cheers with flattering hopes, and a treacherous autumn so illy redeems the deceptive promises of the seasons.

-^ With few exceptions, I consider the wines of Switzerland to be the most inferior productions of the European Vine; and it is due to the skill and perseverance of the Swiss proprietor, and to the unwearied industry of the vigneron of the Cantons, that the sterile hills of their romantic country have attained their present value, and a culture formerly unknown, arrived at such perfection as to support the dense population with which the. country teems.

Switzerland has but little commerce, and produces nothing to exchange for foreign luxuries. The government of the Cantons, aware of the deep stake at issue, and sensible of the importance of extending to this cultivation a fostering protection, has given to the members of it every possible facility at their command. Patriotic and public spirited individuals have associated in agricultural societies, inviting to their membership such practical vine-dressers, as can promote the objects of the cultivation, and improve by their writings, their experience, and their counsel, the system of Swiss vine-dressing; awarding to such as require it, pecuniary aid, and to others of more propitious circumstances, honorary testimonials, where skill and experiment have thrown new light on the subject, and improved the condition of the Swiss vine-dresser.

The Canton of Geneva has done much for the cultivation, by encouraging such societies, and

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eliciting important information from practical vine growers. Among the best of these may be cited the little Manual of Mr. Brun Chappuis, adopted and recommended by the Agricultural Society of Geneva, and that of Mr. Reymondin. The first of these is a treasure to the vine grower. 'Tis a breviary of practical instructions on the duties of the vineyard, and contains such plain and concise directions, as can scarcely fail, if properly attended to, of resulting in the establishment of a successful vineyard.

This little pamphlet — now > out of print — was difficult of access,; but through the influence of my friend Mr. Charles do Bonstetten, of Geneva and Valeyres, I procured it — and having translated, have annexed it to this work. One chapter of Mr. Reymondin I have also translated, that the agriculturalist may compare in part the system of each. Though containing a fund of practical instruction, his work is encumbered with much irrelevant matter. In giving the chapter here annexed, I have husked the chestnut, retaining the kernel, and rejecting the useless burr.

Wine making is better understood in France than in Switzerland. Many valuable works have been written on the subject by the French masters. The treatise of Chaptal is pre-eminent, and such as was to be expected from the pen of that distinguished chemist. It is however too elaborate for our purpose, and fit only for the advanced state of wine making.

The little work of Mr. Bulos is an epitome, presentins: a condensed view of practical wine making, and is of the same character with the Man-

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ual of Brun Chappuis. I have translated it carefully and annexed it also to this volume. Both deserve the attention of the agricultural community; and if, in following the directions they give, the American farmer shall succeed in domesticating among us the foreign vine, subduing by cultivation the savage character of the native plant, there is reason to believe that an ample reward will await on the experiment.

To the authorities of our country, whether State or Federal, may it not in this age of internal improvement be worth theinquiry,why thedifferent governments of Europe, both absolute and liberal, have so long considered the Vine an object of national protection, and whether the introduction of it amongst ourselves as a staple of agriculture, be not deserving the formal and serious attention of legislative enactment. Europe fears it and I have often heard the sentiment expressed among political economists, that it is incumbent on them to make a change, and to adopt some means to counteract a loss of the American market as an outlet for their wines. Sooner or later they anticipate such a change; and the only surprize among them is, that it has not yet arrived.

Among the vine growing countries of Italy, the grand duchy of Tuscany is unquestionably the most prosperous. Though her government is absolute, a just and forbearing prince sways the sceptre of the Medici, and Tuscany blooms under the civil code of the Leopolds. The chief source of the wealth of this State is in her agriculture. The most productive of her cultivations are, the olive, the silk worm, the vine and the Leghorn

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straw. The first of these may be probably cultivated to advantage in Georgia and the Floridas. The silk worm is already in promising favour among ' us, and little doubt, I believe, is entertained of the ultimate success of this branch of industry. From the Leghorn straw we have less perhaps to hope, as the labour required in the manufacture of the article is too heavy a component, to promise an advantageous result in our sparse population. It is a cultivation moreover which has resisted the efforts of France, and foiled the skill of her judicious agriculturalists. The patrimony of St. Peter haslong abandoned the hope of introducing it into the States of the Church, as it is a plant, it would seem, peculiar to the Appenines. But the vine isfoutid through most of the countries of Europe, from the thirty-sixth to the fiftieth degree of latitude, in the various grades and qualities springing from their various climates, soils, exposures, and positions, affording the flattering expectations that the parallel advantages of our own country will eventually produce their similar results, both as to the plant and the vintage.

We have greater reasons to indulge in such hopes than they who have preceded us, as we have the benefit of their skill and experience, their observations and writings. Let us, therefore, at least make the experiment, in the confidence that though gathered into the service at the eleventh hour, the Lord of the vineyard will smile on the work, and crown our efforts with the like rewards, so liberally extended to those who have borne the heat and burden of the day.