THE MANUFACTURE OF WINE. 



IT is still a disputed question whether or not it is 

 possible for good wine to be manufactured in the 

 United States. Daniel Webster, w^hose high intel- 

 lectuality did not detract from his fondness for the 

 pleasures of the table, declared that we could never 

 hope to make good wine on this continent, and that 

 it would always pay us better to raise corn, cotton, 

 etc., for export, and buy our wines and silks. On the 

 other hand, the following letters from President 

 Jefferson to Mr. Adlum would seem to establish the 

 fact that, even at an early day, wine had been made 

 in this country of more than ordinary quality: 



EXTEACT3 OF LETTEES FEOM ME. JEFFEESON, LATE PEESIDENT OF 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



Dated October *Ith, 1809. 



" While I lived in Washington, a member of Congress fromi 

 your State (I do not recollect which) presented me with two< 

 bottles of wine made by you, one of which, of Madeira color,-, 

 he said was entirely factitious; the other, a dark red wine, 

 made from a wild or native grape, called in Maryland a Fox; 

 grape, but very different from what is called by that name i& 

 Virginia. This was a very fine wine, and so exactly resembling 

 the red Burgundy of Chamberlin (one of the lest crops) that on, 

 a fair comparison with that, of which I had very good on the> 



261. 



