34 ESST^.X AS A Vv'INE-PRODUCING COUNTY. 



Mr. Scott recommends that the plastervvork should be 

 renewed with cement plaster broup^ht flush with the surfaces of 

 the timber work ; that barge boards of suitable design should be 

 substituted for those now in position ; and that the rough-case 

 should be removed from the old chimney stack, and the brick 

 work pointed. 



We may now, therefore, hope to see the old Lodge skilfully 

 repaired, to become one of the principal objects of interest in the 

 neighbourhood. The additional space afforded to the Museum 

 will permit of a more systematic and complete representation of 

 the natural history and antiquities of the Forest. The Club has 

 petitioned the F^pping Forest Committee to establish some 

 efficient means of warming the building by means of hot water, 

 and to give our Curator the vise of a room or rooms for work and 

 storage. It is also very desirable that the Museum should be 

 lighted up during the dark afternoons in winter. If these things 

 are done, the building will be vastly more suitable to its purpose, 

 and it will need only a little perseverance and co-operation of 

 those interested in the Forest to render the Epping Forest 

 Museum worthy of its setting in the midst of one of the finest 

 recreation ^rrounds in Enijland. 



ESSEX AS A WINE-PRODUCING COUNTY. 



i!y MILLER CHRISTY, F.L.S. 



SEVERAL months since, Mr. Walter Sergeant, of Dunmow, 

 writing to one of our leading county papers,' raised the 

 question: — Has the vine ever been cultivated in Essex to any 

 large extent for the purpose of making wine ? 



We are safe, I think, in answering this question by a direct 

 negative. At the same time, there can be no doubt whatever 

 that, in early times, viniculture was successfully carried on at 

 not a few places in Essex. Of this, we have clear evidence in 

 the fact that many fields and pastures in various parts of the 

 county still retain (though sometimes in a corrupted form) the 

 name of " The Vineyard." Moreover, written records proving 

 that the vine was once cultivated in our Essex valleys still exist 

 and will be noticed hereafter. 



I Ses Tlte Essex County Chronicle, Dec. gtli, 1898. 



