56 INTRODUCTION. 



relief to the natural wildness of the perspective. 

 With some slight variations from curvatures and 

 sinuosities, the whole line of these hills presents 

 a southern aspect, the feature constituting so im- 

 portant a desideratum in the establishment of the 

 Swiss vineyard. There are not wanting, how- 

 ever, even in that capricious climate, instances 

 where an eastern exposure produces a tolerably 

 good wine; and it appears a question of some 

 difficulty, to which of these advantageous cir- 

 cumstances the superiority of the vines of La 

 Vaux is to be ascribed. It may be a combina- 

 tion of all, though it is believed by many intelli- 

 gent vine growers, that to each vineyard, nay, to 

 each particular plant, there is a soil peculiarly 

 favourable, which promotes beyond all others its 

 prosperity and advancement. Some among them 

 reject this theory, and profess to consider the 

 earth as the nursing mother of the vine, from 

 which, according to a distinguished Swiss culti- 

 vator " it derives its flowers, its foliage, and its 

 fruit," but that the quality of its production, 

 " its vinous essence, its sacharine properties and 

 flavour," are imparted by the rays of the sun, 

 the etherial principle of the atmosphere, and the 

 dews of nightfall. 



From the conflicting opinions of experienced 

 cultivators, in a country where for centuries the 

 vine has formed a prominent feature of agricul- 

 ture, it may be fairly inferred how difficult it is 

 to establish positive rules for the cultivation, or 

 to form any definite conclusion on a subject, 

 where the masters of the art are so much at va- 

 riance. For my own part, contradictory as they 



