VI PREFACE. 



ualofBrun Chappuis. I have translated it care- 

 fully and annexed it also to this volume. Both 

 deserve the attention of the agricultural commu- 

 nity; and if, in following the directions they give, 

 the American farmer shall succeed in domestica- 

 ting among us the foreign vine, subduing by cul- 

 tivation the savage character of the native plant, 

 there is reason to believe that an ample reward 

 will await on the experiment. 



To the authorities of our country, whether State 

 or Federal, may it not in this age of internal im- 

 provement be worth the inquiry, why the different 

 governments of Europe, both absolute and liberal, 

 have so long considered the Vine an object of 

 national protection, and whether the introduc- 

 tion of it amongst ourselves as a staple 'of agri- 

 culture, be not deserving the formal and serious 

 attention of legislative enactment. Europe fears 

 it and I have often heard the sentiment expressed 

 among political economists, that it is incumbent 

 on them to make a change, and to adopt some 

 meansto counteract a loss of the American market 

 as an outlet for their wines. Sooner or later they 

 anticipate such a change; and the only surprize 

 among them is, that it has not yet arrived. 



Among the vine growing countries of Italy, 

 the grand duchy of Tuscany is unquestionably 

 the most prosperous. Though her government 

 is absolute, a just and forbearing prince sways the 

 sceptre of the Medici, and Tuscany blooms under 

 the civil code of the Leopolds. The chief source 

 of the wealth of this State is in her agriculture. 

 The most productive of her cultivations are, the 

 olive, the silk worm, the vine and the Leghorn 



