INTRODUCTION. 25 



post of the barn yard. The general cultivation 

 of the vine in northern France appears the same. 

 When such a situation can be commanded, the 

 vineyard occupies the inclination of a hill. 

 From such selection, two advantages are deriv- 

 ed. An increased degree of temperature from 

 the reflected heat of the declining aspect, and a 

 correspondent dryness from the openness of the 

 soil, and precipitous descent of the position; 

 desiderata contributing greatly to the prosperity, 

 and, in some countries, essential to the existence 

 of the vine. Though important, certainly, to the 

 results of vine growing, I do not consider such a 

 position as indispensable to the cultivation in Penn- 

 sylvania. The climate of the State affords a tempe- 

 rature favourable to a production of the delicate 

 winesof France. Thelatteris a consequence of the 

 evaporation from our summer sun, by which we 

 may reasonably expect sufficient dryness, when 

 the soil be not argillaceous, and the position af- 

 ford the necessary descent to carry off the heavy 

 rains as they fall. The flank of the hill may be 

 esteemed then in general as the favourable posi- 

 tion for the vine ground ; but that it is not ex- 

 clusively so, and that good wines, nay fine, wines, 

 are derived from the vineyard of the plain, can 

 be demonstrated by many instances in the histo- 

 ry of French cultivation. The district, for ex- 

 ample, of Medoc, department of the Gironde, is 

 a plain, and we know that there are found the 

 vineyards of Lafitte, Chateau, Margaux, Leo- 

 ville, La Rose, and Branc Mouton, the excellence 

 of whose productions are as well known in our 

 country as in France. 



C 



