INTRODUCTION. 67 



of the vine has attained in this Canton, has given 

 to the barren gravelly hills a value which will 

 scarcely be credited by the American farmer. 



Under the liberal hand of public protection 

 and individual associations, the cultivation has 

 arrived at the acme of perfection ; and it is per- 

 haps there that the strongest encouragement is 

 manifested in the complete triumph of skill and 

 perseverance, over the many obstacles which 

 nature opposes in general to an acclimating of 

 the foreign vine. The grape introduced was 

 that of Burgundy, and long and arduous was the 

 struggle, on the part of the vigneron of Neufcha- 

 tel, before the full acclimating of this delicate 

 plant. But now, it is at home, even in that ca- 

 pricious climate, where on one side at no great 

 distance the hoary headed Alps, with the eternal 

 glaciers of Mont Blanc, St. Gothard, and Cenis, 

 shed around their chilly and inhospitable in- 

 fluence, and immediately adjoining, on the other 

 the Jura attracts the dark clouds overhanging 

 her vineyards. 



The grape has suffered however from the emi- 

 gration ; and by some cf those indefinable causes 

 affecting in a manner so singular the character of 

 this versatile plant, has been injuriously changed 

 in the removal. Perhaps this deterioration of 

 quality may be ascribed to the loss of heat pre- 

 vailing at Burgundy, or the increased humidity 

 from rains, of the new locale; as the soil around 

 Neufchatel is not unlike that from which it was 

 taken . 



The proximity of the lake would appear to 

 promise, in the theory, some advantages from the 



