136 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



temperance as any other man can be. I have labored in it, and 

 spent my time and money for it, and if I did not believe from 

 the bottom of my soul that the introduction of pure wine from 

 the grape, under vineyard culture, so that each man could make 

 his own wine, whereby its purity would be assured, would aid 

 the cause of temperance, and abate the use of those injurious 

 drinks that are now so common among us, I would not make a 

 gallon of wine. I know that an eminent writer has been quoted 

 recently as saying that in London and Paris the use of intox- 

 icating liquors was more common and notorious than in New 

 York. A writer on Italy, and a very able man, has said that 

 the use of wine led to very frequent quarrels in Rome, where 

 men poniarded one another, and were up before the courts the 

 next morning. Now an eminent gentleman of this State, who 

 was formerly a Baptist clergyman, and for two or three years 

 a pastor of the Protestant Chapel in Paris, says that in the 

 departments, where they grow the grape and use wine, there is 

 no intemperance, except very rarely, about the large towns and 

 about the taverns. In Paris, he says, the amount of intemper- 

 ance, in consequence of drinking brandy, was very large ; and 

 the moment he got into those districts where they could not 

 make wine, but made beer and drank brandy, he found intem- 

 perance. And that is the testimony of multitudes who have 

 written on that subject. I could fill a whole page with the testi- 

 mony of eminent men who have written books, or whose letters 

 to their friends have been published, corroborating these state- 

 ments. It is not wise to take a fanatical view of this matter, 

 and to come to the conclusion, that because distilled liquors are 

 poisonous and injurious, and lead to mischief, we arc never to 

 use any other. However, I only allude to that point here, 

 because I have proposed the alternative of wine-making. I do 

 not think you will have to resort to that alternative. I have 

 not the slightest idea that all the grapes that can be grown will 

 be sufficient to supply the market at even the wine-making price 

 of ten cents a gallon. And if you ask me how I come to that 

 conclusion, I will state to you a fact. In our Western country, 

 grapes sell for about five cents a pound. Now, Catawba wine is 

 worth about $1.60 a gallon, at the extreme West ; at the East, 

 it is sold at a much higher price — about 81 ; and about four- 

 teen pounds of grapes are required for a gallon of wine. You 



