498 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



stakes, which are from four to five feet in height. At the har 

 vest they are gathered with great adroitness, the clusters being 

 cut with a knife or scissors, and carried to the pressing-house in 

 casks or carts. The whole process, afterwards, resembles pre 

 cisely the manufacture of cider, excepting that I saw no straw 

 used in laying up what is called the cheese, the stems of the 

 vines supplying the place of straw, in giving compactness to the 

 heap : and that there is no breaking or crushing of the grapes, as 

 of the apples, before they are put under the press. The juice, 

 as it comes from the grape, is always white ; but it is colored by 

 leaving the stems and skins of the grapes in the vat with the 

 liquor twenty-four hours after it is expressed. The after-man 

 agement of the wine, where it is kept pure, consists in straining, 

 and different drawings off and bottling, very much like the man 

 agement of the best cider; above all things, watching over the 

 casks to preserve them from must or any offensive substance. 



The different kinds of wine take their names from the differ 

 ent countries or vineyards in which they are produced. I cannot 

 persuade myself that the grape itself has not much to do with 

 the quality of the wine ; but the constant reply to my inquiries 

 was, that the character of the wine depended mainly upon the 

 particular locality in which it was grown, upon some peculiarity 

 in the aspect, or some unknown quality of the soil. I have no 

 doubt the particular quality of the grape has its full share, and 

 other circumstances besides those which I have enumerated. 

 The adulteration of wines, their mixture, and their fabrication 

 out of materials wholly foreign from the grape, are carried on. 

 undoubtedly, to a great extent, especially in the cities ; as, 

 indeed, in what country are not such adulterations more or less 

 prevalent, as the condition of the market may render them 

 profitable ? 



In France the appearance of a vineyard presents nothing very 

 picturesque, though in the season of harvest it is extremely rich, 

 as I have travelled for miles and miles through vineyards loaded 

 with this delicious fruit. The fields in France are very rarely 

 separated by fences or ditches ; but many facts have come to my 

 knowledge, and some within my own personal observation, which 

 convinced me that nowhere are the rights of property more 

 scrupulously respected. In Italy, especially in the fertile plains 

 of Lombardy, the vines are trained from tree to tree, sometimes 



