Notice of Madeira. 241 



imported by some trusty person, he will run great risk of being de- 

 ceived. Even in importing for private consumption, particular pains 

 are necessary, as the merchant in Madeira, I believe, in answering 

 orders, always distinguishes between that intended for individual use, 

 and the market. The best houses or u brands," as they are tech- 

 nically called, are that of Marsh, (the U. S. Consul,) Gordon, & 

 Co. (English,) Lacock, (English,) Wallis, Barr, (English,) and Oli- 

 vera, (Portuguese.) We purchased a pipe of eight years old wine 

 there, for private use, for $180, which I belive may be considered a 

 fair price. The consul had some of the same age, kept in the gar- 



$220 



$ 



An acre, under the most favorable circumstances, will produce 

 as much as four pipes of good wine ; but one pipe to the acre, is 

 the usual average. From one to three acres are considered as 

 much as one family can well attend to. In the richest parts of the 

 island, the cottages are scattered so thickly as, to a vessel sailing along 

 the coast, to appear like an endless succession of villages. Their 

 houses are thatched, and are generally nothing more than miserable 

 hovels of basalt, cemented with mud, and without a chimney ; but I 

 have never, any where, been treated with greater respect than among 

 this simple, and I believe, industrious peasantry. A drunken man I 

 did not see during all my stay in the island. One half of the wine 

 goes to the landholder, as rent : the remainder is usually purchased 

 by the wine merchants, a considerable time before the vintage^ one 

 third of the money being paid at the time of purchase, and the remain- 

 der on delivery. The price given by the latter, for the best il 

 deira," is $70 a pipe. The wine is racked once a month, during 

 the first year, and once every fourth month, during the second, the 

 loss at each racking, being about a gallon : from one to two gallons 

 of brandy are put into each pipe during the fermentation. 



My stay was too short to enable me to gather much information on 

 the mode of cultivating the vine, and I take the liberty of quoting 

 from the book of Mr. Bowdich, a work bearing in itself evidence 

 of close observation, and which is spoken of as a production of great 

 correctness and excellence. It is said that the vines will last sixty 

 years, if planted wide enough apart. The ground being turned up, 

 the trenches are dug from four to seven feet deep, according to the 

 nature of the soil. And a quantity of loose or strong earth is placed 

 at the bottom to prevent the roots from reaching the stiff, clayey soil 



Ma 



