State Agricultural Society. 295 



fosters the fertility of the soil, and the longer any particular piece of 

 land is devoted to their production the better are the realized results. 

 Then, too, the vine and the mulberry tree flourish and do best in the loot- 

 hills, on land which is the least value for most other agricultural pro- 

 ducts, and which would be of very expensive cultivation for such pro- 

 ducts. Hence, the successful development of these new industries in 

 our State will bring into use and make valuable millions of acres of a 

 class of land that can in no other way be rendered of but little value. 

 To the exhibitors of these particular classes in this department then the 

 meed of merit will doubtless be awarded, and while I would concede 

 great merits to the pioneers and exhibitors in the silk industry, yet I 

 think it will be admitted that sufficient has not been accomplished in 

 silk culture to entitle the industry to rank before that of the cultivation 

 of the vine and the manufacture of its products. 



The benefits to the State from silk culture are mostly in anticipation, 

 while those from vine culture and wine manufacture are in a fair state 

 of realization. This advanced stage of the latter has been brought about 

 by the foresight, enterprise, and perseverance of a few individuals. 



The whole enterprise from the beginning was a doubtful experiment. 

 First, it had to be proved that the grapes could be grown and the wine 

 made. Second, a long established and deep seated taste for foreign wines 

 had to be changed, and a taste for home made wines cultivated and estab- 

 lished before a market could be found for the home production. This 

 taste for foreign wines was backed by a strong prejudice in their favor, 

 and this prejudice had also to be removed. This has been a work of no 

 small magnitude, and none but those personally and directly interested 

 in it can realize the difficulties and discouragements the pioneers in the 

 business have had to meet and overcome. That they have boldly met 

 and overcome most of the obstacles to success, I have no doubt the 

 committee will conceed, entitles the industry they have established to the 

 highest position of merit in the department. If this position be granted 

 then I ask the committee briefly to review the part your humble servant 

 has acted in the accomplishment of this work. 



In eighteen hundred and sixty-one, I purchased a piece of land in Sal- 

 mon Falls Township, El Dorado County, upon which were then planted 

 eight acres of vines. I gave to this place the name of " Natoma Vine- 

 yard," and since that time my best energies and all the capital I could 

 command have been devoted to the industry. I have now one hundred 

 and fifty-seven acres in vines, and for a number of years past I have 

 made from, grapes grown by myself, on my own land, on an average of 

 from fifty thousand to sixty thousand gallons of wine per annum. Last 

 year my product was sixty-six thousand gallons. During this entire 

 time I have been constantly and carefully carrying on experiments, the 

 object of which has been to determine: first, the varieties of grapes best 

 adapted for making superior wines of the different kinds in California, 

 and second, the best mode of treating those wines in this climate to 

 secure the best results from any given variety. 



For the double purpose of assisting my own judgment as to the suc- 

 cess with which these experiments "were being attended, and to establish 

 a reputation and market for California wines in general, and my own in 

 particular, I have taken a great deal of pains and spent a great deal of 

 money in placing them on exhibition and competition with the wines of 

 other producers at our own Mechanics' and State Fairs, and also 

 exhibited them at the Universal Exhibition at Paris in eighteen hundred 

 and sixty-seven. 



