INTRODUCTION. 49 



These presses are beautiful specimens of me- 

 chanical power, and cost in that country one 

 hundred and fifty dollars each. The whole bu- 

 siness of his wine grounds could easily be effected 

 by two presses, perhaps by a single one, where, 

 by a change of workmen, the pressing is con- 

 tinued day and night, if he were allowed to 

 gather his fruit at discretion ; for in 1831, three 

 weeks of fine weather succeeded the termination 

 of the time fixed by the municipal law for the 

 gathering of the crop, during which time the 

 grapes would have improved if they had been 

 permitted to remain on the vine. 



The seasons in that country, it is true, are ca- 

 pricious, and no reliance can be had, that the 

 fruit, after the coming in of October, would be 

 safe in the field for any length of time. We, 

 however, consider that the determination of 

 such matters is the exclusive right of the cultiva- 

 tor, whose labour has been given to the produc- 

 tion of his crop, and whose interest in its manage- 

 ment and preservation is a stronger guarantee 

 than rulers and laws can impose. 



But it should be remarked, that this restriction 

 may be evaded in the Canton de Vaud, by the 

 proprietor who chooses to do so, by enclosing 

 his entire vineyard within a stone wall. But, 

 though the Canton is alive with population, and 

 materials are scattered in great abundance, over 

 the surface of the whole country, labour is not 

 so cheap there as is the case generally through 

 continental Europe ; and the proprietor who en- 

 closes his grounds by a wall of circumvallation, 

 E 



