S3 INTRODUCTION. 



vourable seasons of wine making. Before I had 

 been a month in the country, I was accidentally 

 apprized of this fact. Mr. Correvon, the Syndic 

 of Yverdon, whose urbanity of manner and frank 

 hospitality, have made him favorably known to 

 most strangers visiting that ancient city, and 

 whose active and efficient participation as a mem- 

 ber of the u Grand Conseil" has distinguished 

 him in the political economy of the confedera- 

 tion, is among the intelligent and successful cul- 

 tivators of the Canton of Vaud. An amateur, 

 curious in the process of wine making, his cellars 

 contain a collection of wines, the productions of 

 his own vine grounds at La Vaux, the most 

 recherche, and surpassed in quality by that of 

 no other proprietor of that Canton. 



In showing me his wines, I was impressed by 

 inference with the belief, that the climate of 

 Switzerland, or at least that of Vaud, does not 

 afford in a given time, more than one-third of 

 the seasons which are favourable to the wine 

 making. 



The first he offered me as of a superior vintage, 

 was that of the year 1791; then, 1795; then, 

 1801 ; then, 1805; and so on, up to 1826; and I 

 found that the intervention of time between the 

 seasons which had given a character to the vintage, 

 was seldom less, and frequently exceeded three 

 years. Yet, under all the multiform disadvanta- 

 ges, the Swiss Vigneron finds a better return for 

 his labour, and the land holder a better interest 

 for his capital, than in the cultivation of grainy 

 even though the price of labour seldom exceeds 

 twenty four cents per day; and the quartron of 



