26 INTRODUCTION. 



The wines of St. Denis, and of Shadillon, frt 

 the department of Loiret, are also from the plain j 

 so are the best wines of Orleans. The like 

 position in the department of Sonne, through 

 which I have frequently observed the cultivation, 

 as well as on the banks of the Rhone, afford also 

 superior wines; and we may further observe that 

 the wines of Languedoc are from the vineyards 

 of the plain. In my intercourse with the Euro- 

 pean vine dressers, I have often been struck with 

 the capricious nature of the vine, and the utter 

 impossibility of a knowledge, a prior 'i, of the re- 

 sults of a new cultivation. Neither the French 

 nor the Swiss vignerons, have the least confi- 

 dence in their foresight as to the results of a new 

 plantation, and anxiously await till the first vin- 

 tage, and first wine making, shall determine the 

 character of the young vineyard. 



One of the strongest illustrations of this fact is 

 related by Mr. Thicabout, a distinguished French 

 agriculturalist. He says, that in the little vine- 

 yard of Mont Rachet, in the department of the 

 Cote d'or, there are three distinct and separate 

 divisions and qualities of the wine from the 

 same species of the vine the same plant a result 

 of which the proprietor, at the time of planting, had 

 not the least idea or anticipation. He describes 

 the position, soil, and exposure of the entire vine- 

 yard to be to all appearance precisely the same, 

 but yet the quality of the wines so different, that 

 they are well known through France, and sold 

 at different rates, according to their different 

 character and reputation. This little vineyard, 

 originally intended as one plantation, is staked 



