110 CULTIVATION OF THE 



rivalry to the products of British skill. Could 

 we but look fifty years into futurity, it might be 

 seen, that of the various wines afforded by our 

 genial soils, the multiplied aspects available to 

 us, many may take a distinguished rank among 

 the cherished productions of the European vine. 

 It may exercise a more salutary influence. In 

 our land may be seen 4;he substitution of native 

 wines, in place of those ardent spirits of native 

 and foreign growth, whose deleterious effects 

 tend to poison the springs of individual happi- 

 ness, and dry up the sources of public virtue. 



To the agriculturalist who has not given the 

 subject a practical attention, a deep surprise will 

 be excited, on learning the profitable results of 

 the cultivation, and the great returns of a single 

 acre of well managed vine lands. If we except 

 the sugar cane of Louisiana, I doubt if any crop 

 in our country, not the cotton or tobacco of the 

 south, will so bountifully repay the labours of 

 the planter as the cultivation of the vine. Should 

 the attempt be considered, as mere experiment, 

 be it so. The possible result fully justifies the 

 exercise of legislative patronage. It offers to the 

 former, as a strong inducement, the experience 

 of most prosperous agricultural states of Europe, 

 and chides us for pouring into the coffers of the 

 stranger the wealth which should be more judi- 

 ciously employed in developing our own internal 

 resources. It reflects on our national sagacity 

 for swelling the value of the European vine 

 grounds at the expense of our landed proprietor, 

 and robbing the American cultivator of a prolific 

 source of profitable agriculture. To the latter 



