352 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



OUR WINE TRADE AND PRODUCE OF THE COLONIES 



If the stimulus about to be given to the consump- 

 tion of wine here could also be made to react on 

 many of the British colonies in causing them to turn 

 their attention more generally to the cultivation of the 

 grape anrl the manufactui-e of wine, it would do much 

 good. Not that we anticipate, however, to draw from 

 thence increased supplies for home consumption, al- 

 though such a contingency is by no means improba- 

 ble when a few years have passed over, and practice, 

 experience and the extension of the culture of the vine 

 have been more carried out. We have wide ranges of 

 country well suited to the culture of the vine, and 

 where at least the local consumption of wine might be 

 supplied ; and even many vmpromising countries, as 

 we shall shortly show, can be made available. 



The transference of the culture of several important 

 staples from one country to another holds out encou- 

 ragement to the enterprise and industry of our colo- 

 nists. Thus indigo, sugar, and cotFee cultivation have 

 been transferred from the West to the East; and British 

 India, Ceylon, and Mauritius now surpass all that 

 was ever do"ne in former years by the planters of 

 Central America, Demerara, or the British West In- 

 dies. So also with the production of wool, which has 

 made more rapid strides in South Africa and Australia 

 than was ever done in Europe. 



While the vine disease has been eo destructive of 

 late years in France, Italy, and other wine districts of 

 the continent, and the wine production of Madeira has 

 been almost annihilated, we see successful attention 

 and great progress making in the Cape and Australia. 

 The increasing demand foi; Cape wines in the English 

 and other markets has been promptly responded to by 

 an increased supply — one among the many proofs 

 daily arising of the immense productive powers of the 

 Cape colony. In 1850, there were exported from the Cape 

 (exclusive of Coustantia) 250,256 gallons of wine ; in 

 1856, the shipments had increased to 720,299 gallons. 

 But if we look at the quantity taken for home consump- 

 tion, we find that it has advanced from 282,043 gallons 

 in 1854, to 781,581 gallons in 1859. 



In Australia the cultivation of the vine and wine 

 manufacture is yet carried on to but a limited extent, 

 arising in some degree from the expense of labour and 

 the want of proper information. In New South Wales 

 there are now about 1,200 acres in vineyards, produ- 

 cing 108,174 gallons of wine and 1,414 gallons of 

 brandy. In South Australia there are 1,100 acres, 

 and in Western Australia 200 acres under culture with 

 the vine. But there is no reason why these areas 

 should not be greatly extended, to the advantage 

 alike of the producers and the colonies, for 'soil and 

 climate are both favourable to wine production. 

 Although the prevailing taste in Australia is for 

 strong drinks, yet it can scarcely be doubted that less 

 ardent beverages will find favour hereafter. Taking 

 the average of the last six years, the shipments of spirits 

 of all kinds to Australia have been 2,700,000 gallons 

 per annum, and about 1,000,000 gallons of wine ; so 

 that upwards of 2| gallons per head of spirits is drunk 

 yearly to one gallon of wine. This is irrespective of 

 the small quantities made in the colonies, and of malt 

 liquors. 



The climate and soil of the West Indies also appear 

 smgularly adapted for the production of wines fully 

 capable of entering into successful competition with the 



most distinguished vintages of Europe, from the lus- 

 cious and almost unknown Tokay of Hungary, to the 

 less saccharine Hock of the Rhine. The volcanic rocks 

 which form the substratum of almost every poition of 

 tiie Caribbean archipelago, furnish a soil peculiarly 

 favourable to the culture of the vine. The toil 

 of the vineyard is of the lightest description, and 

 not overpowering for the European constitution, even 

 in the sultry heat of the tropics. Hence the intro- 

 duction of vineyards into the British West Indies 

 would, sooner or later, be followed by an influx of Eu- 

 ropean labour, which, without entering into fatal com- 

 petition with the Creole peasantry in the heavier cul- 

 tivation of the cane, might prove the means, in time, 

 of purifying the moral atmosphere of the islands, in- 

 troducing habits of greater industry and sobriety, and 

 thus elevating the Colonies in the social scale, while it 

 afforded employment and comfort to thousands at home. 



Humboldt tells us that in the first years of the 

 conquest of Cuba by the Spaniards, wine was made 

 there of the wild grapes. Hence a reasonable pros- 

 pect appears of being able to add wine to the other 

 commercial products of the West Indies, notwithstand- 

 ing the observation of Humboldt, that, " in no part of 

 the northern hemisphere has the vine hitherto been 

 cultivated, with a view of producing wine, south of 27 

 deg. 48 min., or the latitude of the Isle de Ferro, one 

 of the Canaries, and of 29 deg. 2 rain., or the latitude 

 of Abuscher, in Persia" (Pers. Narr. vol. vii. p. 219). 

 This remark, however, must be taken as restricted to 

 the Vitis vimfera of Europe and Asia, although wine 

 has been successfully produced from the fruit of this 

 very species in St. Domingo. 



As an evidence of the possibility of making wine in 

 countries previously believed to be unsuitable to the 

 culture of the vine, we may instance the case of the 

 United States, where considerable progress is being 

 made over a large extent of territory, and in widely 

 dissimilar climates. Mr. Erskine, our Secretary of 

 Legation at Washington, in a report recently submitted 

 to the Foreign Office, furnishes some interesting details. 

 It is a generally received opinion that in Europe good 

 wine cannot be produced in regions where the mean 

 temperature of the year does not exceed 60 degrees of 

 Fahrenheit ; and it is deemed essential that the sum- 

 mer heat should be of some duration, with a mean 

 temperature of not more than 70 or 71 degrees; that 

 the atmosphere should generally be clear and dry, the 

 cold in winter not excessive, and the soil dry. Along 

 the seaboard of the United States most of these sup- 

 posed requisites are wanting ; and so far back as the 

 year 1817, Humboldt predicted that the vine could not 

 be cultivated in America north of the 40th degree of 

 north latitude, the climate of which, it was assumed, 

 would bear a close resemblance to that of the 50th 

 parallel in Jiurope. But on the settlement of the 

 regions lying to the west of the Alleghany Mountains, 

 it was found that the vine might be there grown with 

 greater prospect of success, in consequence of the 

 climate being less moist than on the coast; and ac- 

 cordingly a palatable red wine was made from the 

 native grape in Indiana and Missouri, towards the end 

 of the last century. About the year 1 826, the Catawba, a 

 native American grape, was first brought into notice, 

 having been found growing at Georgetown, near Wash- 

 ington. This vine, which is derived fi-om the wild fox 



