FOREIGN NOTICES. 



45 



a sweet wine, and the Roxtsette, a mitst, which by 

 itself would yield a dry wine. 



The white wine of Hermitage, even after having 

 undersjone the complete fermentation above deseriii- 

 ed, still retains a disposition to effervesce when put 

 into bottle. It is said to be, without (piestion, the 

 finest white wine of France, and will keep 100 

 years, improving as it pets older ; and when very 

 old, acquiring a similarity to the white wines of 

 Spain. 



For fermenting the red wines, Messrs. Richard 

 have two vats, each capable of containing 16,000 

 gallons. Every day as the grapes are brought from 

 the vineyard, they are trodden in troughs, and then 

 emptied into the vats ; and while the vats arc lilling, 

 a man gets into them once a day to tread down the 

 surface. The object of this is to prevent the sur- 

 face from becoming sour by exposure to the air, 

 and to render the fermentation as equal as possible 

 through the whole mass. When it becomes too 

 deep for a man to tread it to the bottom, he sus- 

 pends himself by the middle from a plank across 

 the vat. The duration of the fermentation is very 

 uncertain, depending upon the state of the weather, 

 and the ripeness of the grapes- Messrs Richard 

 ferment the finest grapes in one vat, and those of 

 an inferior quality in the other. I tasted the wine 

 of both vats of the large vintage ; the first was 

 made of the best grapes, which were also gathered 

 in dry and warm weather ; the second quality was 

 made from the inferior grapes, and from others 

 which had been gathered during rain and cold 

 weather. The fermentation of the first was over 

 in five days, and its present value is 300 francs the 

 cask ol~2I0 litres, (that is, about as many bottles ;) 

 the other continued fermenting in the vat for twenty 

 days, and its present value is onl}' 80 francs for the 

 same quantity. 



The finest clarets of Bourdeaux are mixed with 

 a portion of the finest red wine of Hermitage, and 

 four-fifths of the quantity of the latter which is pro- 

 duced are thus employed. The wines are raclfed 

 oflfthe lees in spring and sulphured. A very small 

 piece of sulphured match is burnt in tiie casks intend- 

 ed for the white wine; the red wine requires a greater 

 portion. These matches are purchased from persons 

 who make a business in preparing them. They are 

 slips of paper, about one inch and a half broad, and 

 ■when coated on both sides with sulphur, are about 

 the thickness of a sixpence. A piece of one inch 

 and a half scjuare, is sufficient for a cask of white 

 wine containing 50 gallons. Busby'' s Visit to the 

 Vineyards of France and Spain. 



Fa-tee Gardens near Canton. — Here then I 

 beheld a specimen of the far-famed system of Chi- 

 nese gardening, about which we have read so much 

 in European authors : I will, therefore, describe 

 them somewhat fully. The plants are principally 

 kept in large pots arranged in rows along the sides 

 of narrow paved walks, with the houses of the gar- 

 deners at the entrance through which the visitors 

 pass to the gardens. There are about a dozen of 

 these gardens, more or less extensive, according to 

 the business or wealth of the proprietor ; but they 

 are generally smaller than the smallest of our Lon- 



don nurseries. They have also stock grounds, 

 where the different plants are planted out in the 

 ground, and were the first process of dwarfing their 

 celebrated trees is put in operation. These con- 

 tain large collections of Camellias, Azaleas, Oran- 

 ges, Roses, and various other well known plants, 

 which arc purchased bj' the Chinese when in fiow- 

 er. The most striking plant in autumn or winter, 

 is the curious fingered Citron, which the Chinese ga- 

 ther and place in their dwcllincrs or on their altars. 

 It is n\uch admired both for its strange form and also 

 for its perfume. The Mandarin Orange is also much 

 grown at Fa-tee, where the plants are kept in a 

 dwarf state, and flower and fruit most profusely, 

 producing large flat, dark, rcd-skinncd fruit. The 

 Chinese have a great variety of j)lants belono-in"- 

 to the Orange tribe ; and of one, which they call 

 the Cum.quat, a small oval-fruited variety, they 

 make a most excellent preserve. The Murraya 

 exotica, Aglaia odorata, Ixoras, and Lagerstroe- 

 mias, are very ornamental here in autumn. 



But it is of course in spring that the ]■ a-tee gar- 

 dens possess the greatest attractions. The}"^ are 

 then gay with the Tree Paeony, Azaleas, Camellias, 

 Roses and various otiier plants. The Azaleas are 

 splendid, and reminded me of the exhibitions of the 

 garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, but 

 the Fa-tee exhibitions were on a much larger scale. 

 Every garden was one mass of bloom, andlhe differ- 

 ent colours of red, white, and purple blended toire- 

 ther, had a most beautiful and imposing effect. The 

 principal kinds grown were Azalea indica, indica 

 alba, phcenicia, lateritia, variegata, and the j-el- 

 low Azalea sinensis. I may mention, in passing, 

 that I found the latter plant wild on the Ning-po 

 hills, so that there is no doubt of its being a genu- 

 ine Chinese species. The air at this season, around 

 Fa-tce, is j)erfumed with the sweet flowers of Olea 

 fragrans and the Magnolia fuscata, both of which 

 are grown extensively in these gardens. Uwarf 

 trees, as may be supposed, occupy a principal sta- 

 tion ; they are trained into the most grotesque and 

 curious forms. The plants which stand next to 

 dwarf trees in importance with the Chinese are cer- 

 tainly Chrysanthemums, which they manage ex- 

 tremely well, perhaps better than they do any other 

 plant. So high do these plants stand in the favor 

 of the Chinese gardener, that he will cultivate 

 them extensively even against the wishes of his 

 employer; and, in many instances, rather leave 

 his situation than give up "the growth of his favorite 

 flower. I was told, that the late Mr. Beale used 

 to say, that he grew Chrysanthemums in his gar- 

 den for no other purpose than to please his garden- 

 er, not having any taste for this particular flower 

 himself. 



Tree Paeonies are not natives of the south of 

 China, but are brought down in large quantities 

 every year, about the month of January, from the 

 northern provinces. They flower soon after they 

 arrive, and are rapidly bought up by the Chinese 

 to ornament their houses, after which they are 

 thrown away, as they do not thrive well so far 

 south as Canton or Macao, and will not flower a 

 second season. They are sold according to tliB 

 number of flower buds they may have upon them, 



