December 2S, 1873. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOETICULTUEE AXD COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



509 



M. Tan Hoatte is a gentleman who has evidently turned the 

 leaf of three score years but is not yet grey -with time, and if 

 his step has lost its spring it is due to a sUght atlliction common 

 to sedentary habits rather than innate physical weakness. He 

 is of robust physique and vigorous intellect, and subjected to 

 his penetrating vision a nervous man might feel himself the 

 subject of stock-taking and being read all through. He has 

 not much time for polished ceremony or to press courtesy to 

 an unpleasant extreme. Lite many another eminent man he 

 is a great listener and seems content for his friends around 

 him to do the conventional talk, himself sifting and speaking 

 only to the point. His characteristic is soon seen to be 

 matter-of-fact exactitude, which is one of the greatest acquisi- 

 •tions any man can inherit or acquii-e, and which, in the end, 

 will serve him the best. Van Houtte's is a house of work. Each 

 •one has his or her duties in conducting this great business. 

 Even the daughters of the household— of charming manners 

 and genial — have their share in foreign correspondence, theii' 

 maternal parent being chief cashier. Van Houtte spends his 

 whole time in his business bureau. He has not been all round 

 his nursery for three years, yet is cognisant of evei-ything in 

 every part of it. From five to eight every morning is occupied 

 in arrangements with different foremen, and if it is never seen 

 there the governing head is felt in every corner of the estab- 

 lishment. Surrounded by a large staff of clerks every detail 

 of management is arranged here, the chief himself com- 

 mencing work between one and two o'clock every morning and 

 working incessantly until 8 r.M. with less than one hour's 

 intermission. And this not at any particular season but con- 

 stantly from one year's end to another. 1 have the best 

 authority for this extraordinary fact and wUl frankly confess 

 felt myself humiliated thereby. What a lesson it teaches 

 that there is no royal road to success, aud is one more example 

 that those who have won have worked — worked with rare zeal 

 and perseverance irresistible in pressing to the goal of success. 

 So it has ever been, so it will ever be. — J. 'Wkighi. 



VINTAGE IN HUNGAEY. 



By looking at a book of comparative statistics you will find 

 that, after France, Austria-Hungary is the greatest wine-pro- 

 ducing country in Europe ; and again, that to the wine-pro- 

 duction of Austria-Hungary, which is estimated to reach in 

 a good year above three hundred million imperial gallons, 

 Hungary contributes about five-eighths. These figures alone, 

 without any further comment, show the importance of this 

 branch of agriculture for the country. It is, therefore, natural 

 that the vintage should constitute quite an event, and be 

 looked forward to with almost as much interest as the harvest 

 itself. If a good vintage can never quite make up for a bad 

 harvest, it may go far to mitigate the evil, for the 070,000 

 Austrian acres, equal to about one million English acres, on 

 which the Vine is cultivated are more or less spread all over 

 the country, so that, with the exception of the higher mountain 

 regions in the north and east, there is scarcely a county which 

 does not in some measure participate in the production. It is 

 above all, however, round those isolated heights which rise up 

 at various points of the alluvial basin which constitutes Hun- 

 gary that the Vine is cultivated, forming a series of wine dis- 

 tricts and regions more different in the character of their pro- 

 duce than almost any other country can show. Thus, the dis- 

 trict of Rusth in the west, that of Carlovitz in the south, that 

 of il<;nes in the south-east, produce wines allied in flavour and 

 strength to the wines of Spain and Portugal ; the hills of 

 'Villany in the south, the slopes of the Matra range at Visonta, 

 and the mountain slopes round Bada yield wines which even a 

 connoisseur might take for Burgundy ; again, the hills along- 

 side Cater Balatar, the environs of the isolated hiU of Somlo 

 in the west, the valley of KiikiilKJ, in Transylvania, and many 

 others, produce wines having all the characteristics of Rhino 

 ■wines, only with more body, while the detached range at the 

 foot of the Carpathians boasts of its Tokay, with its own dis- 

 tinctive bouquet, and a combination of mellowness and strength 

 which is probably unrivalled. 



Of course, with such a variety of Grapes as is implied by the 

 Tariety of wines, the vintage extends over a consideroble 

 period, so that while with the lighter sorts it begins towards 

 the end of September, the gatbering-in of stronger sorts rarely 

 begins before the middle of October, and the owners of the 

 vineyards of Tokay wait for the first hoar frosts in November, 

 which are deemed essential to develops fully the flavour and 

 that tmaaaai quantity of sugar and alcohol which distiugmshes 



their wiues. It may seem strange in a free country that the 

 period of vintage in each district is not left to the discretion of 

 the owners of the vineyards, but it is the local authorities who 

 fix not only the beginning, but actually the period within 

 which everyone must have finished his vintage. This is an 

 old custom, which arose at the time when most of the vine- 

 yards in the country were not the freehold property of those 

 who cultivated them, but had to pay tithes to the landlord who 

 owned the soil. As, however, the tithes have been redeemed 

 by the State, and the cultivator has become likewise the free 

 owner of the vineyards, this restriction is not Ukelyto be main- 

 tained much longer. Indeed, this very year, the small wine- 

 producers in the district of Buda, who wanted the vintage 

 earlier than the time fixed by the authorities, remonstrated 

 and carried their point. It will not be to their advantage, 

 most of the large wine-producers say, for the weather has been 

 unusually hot, aud a week or ten days longer would have made 

 a notable difference in the quality. You will say. Those who 

 thought so might have waited, and thus shamed theh' foolish 

 neighbours ; but this is more diflicnlt than may seem at first 

 sight, for they would thereby have been exposed to the inroads 

 of self-constituted tithe-gatherers. Like game, fruit of every 

 kind, but above all, Grapes, have somehow or other in the eyes 

 of the people the character of a res nullius. No one would 

 think of taking even one '\\'heat-ear. Potato bulb, or head of 

 Indian Corn from his neighbour's field, but somehow or other 

 the orchard or vineyard, although protected by ditch or hedge, 

 is not considered as sacred. As soon, therefore, as the Grapes 

 begin to ripen a number of special guardians are set over the 

 vineyards by the authorities. They have theii- elevated stands 

 from which they watch by day, while at night they prowl 

 about, keeping up a communication between each other by the 

 sound of horns with which they are provided. In some of the 

 small towns — for instance, the one I am writing from — there is 

 a special functionary, usually himself the owner of a vineyard, 

 who manages this vineyard police. His sign of office is a horn 

 larger than the others, with which he is supposed to call occa- 

 sionally, so as to keep alive the attention of his subordinates, 

 who have to answer the call. Well, this improvised police 

 ceases when the period fixed for the vintage is over, so that 

 everyone, whether he thinks the Grapes ripe or not, must 

 finish his vintage within that period, unless, indeed, he likes 

 to establish a police of his own. 



With the burgher of SzSkes-Fehorviir (whence this is written) 

 the vineyard forms, as it were, a necessary part of his existence 

 and position. To possess a bit of vineyard is the ambition, 

 therefore, of everyone, and he would rather deprive himself of 

 many other things than resolve to sell it. Almost as much aa 

 the vineyard itself, some sort of building on it is equally a 

 social necessity of any man of standing. With those of 

 humbler fortunes it is, indeed, only a cell and a shed of some 

 kind for the wine press ; but in many instances it has grown 

 into a snug rustic building, where not only fi'iends may be 

 received, but where a night, or may be some weeks, may be 

 passed without too much inconvenience. The vintage, and, 

 indeed, the whole cultivation, is a work of love which everyone 

 likes to superintend himself ; so whatever may be the stress of 

 business in the shop in the town, especially on the two weekly 

 market days, when the country people all around come in to 

 make their purchases, the master or the good wife always con- 

 trives to find time to look after the vineyard. If nothing else, 

 it is an occasion for an outing, even if it be at the sacrifice of 

 a walk of a couple of miles. 



But when once the vintage itself approaches it engrosses aU 

 attention. There is first a good deal to do before it begins ; 

 there are thevats to be cleaned, as well as the casks; the press 

 must be set all right and cleaned of the dust of a twelvemonth ; 

 then vintagers are to be procured — men who squeeze the drape 

 by trampling upon it in the old fashion with their heavy boots. 

 Nor are the cares of the mistress of tho house smaller. All 

 these people have to be fed while the work lasts, besides pre- 

 parations made to keep open house during the time. Im- 

 patiently as everyone has waited for the day fixed for tho 

 opening of the vintage, on tho first morning a regular emigra- 

 tion sets in from tho town, and all is alive and astir in the 

 vineyards. Much, of course, depends on tho weather, for if by 

 chance the autumn rains should begin just then, tho vintage 

 becomes a misery rather than a pleasure. Tho dusty road is 

 converted into a quagmire, the few hackney coaches are aU 

 bespoken and almost intractable ; while that open-air amuse- 

 ment, visiting of neighbours, dispensing of hospitality, and the 

 many other pleasures connected with this sort of gipsy life, are 



