VINE IN ITALY. 95 



Hope, ' the island of Madeira, the Canaries, 

 the Azores, and islands of the Levant, as well 

 as the shores of the Mediterranean, maintain 

 in general a fair and often superior charac- 

 ter. If a proximity to the oceanshall be found 

 favourable to the cultivation, it will open to 

 our industry a long line of sea coast, in a great 

 degree barren of profitable agriculture, many 

 of the inhabitants of which derive a consi- 

 derable portion of their support from the natural 

 privileges of the ocean. 



My observations of European vine growing 

 confirm the opinion, that a strong hope may be 

 reasonably entertained of a successful cultivation 

 near the sea. A sandy soil, it is well known, is 

 favourable to the habits of the plant, and equally 

 so to the results of the vintage. Then there are 

 parts of the coast where the rains of September 

 are less frequent, and of shorter duration, and 

 where the sandy character of the soil does not 

 retain the moisture at the surface, or near the 

 roots of the plant. 



My knowledge of the sea coast of our country 

 is limited to the county of Cape May, in the 

 State of New Jersey, and having passed there 

 some of the early part of my life, I have a partial 

 acquaintance with the agriculture of the country. 



In the remarks here made on the capability of 

 that district to the cultivation of the vine, no 

 motives of self-interest can be ascribed to me, as 

 I do not possess an acre of land in New Jersey, 

 which, directly or otherwise, can be benefitted 

 by the introduction of the vine into that country. 

 They are dictated by a belief strongly impress- 

 ed on my mind, that there exist facts sufficiently 



