126 A'ZTF SOUTH WALES. 



feet the late frosts occur in October, at a time when the canes are 

 nearly 12 inches long, and so frequently that in one year out of three 

 the crop will be lost unless precautions are taken by raising a smoke 

 before sunrise. To provide the necessary straw or litter, and distribute 

 it, is no great work, and it need only be burned to save the crop. 



Many intending vignerons are deterred from planting in districts so 

 affected, never considering the advantages accruing on the other 

 hand. I believe that the time will come when existing restrictions to 

 distillation will be removed, and, despite late frosts, the upper valleys 

 of the ]\Iurray and Murrumbidgee will become the great brandy- 

 producing areas of New South Wales. 



In the lower valleys if the spring rain is not sufficient the tropical 

 rain generally falls in time to save the crop. 



As we proceed westward down these vq,lleys, the tropical rains de- 

 crease in volume, and if absent the result on the vintage is disastrous — 

 the grapes wither and can with difficulty be pressed, and the result is 

 coarse, inferior wine. The remedy for this is watering ; no plant 

 returns so much profit for the cost of watering, and no plant gives 

 such results from so small an expenditure of water, and yet no pre- 

 caution against failure is so much neglected. In the districts in 

 question facilities for obtaining a supply by pumping are frequent. 

 The time will come when one of the principal objects to be kept in 

 view in designing new vineyards will be water and a free flow of it 

 along the rows of vines by easy and gentle grades. A little attention 

 to this will save labour eventually. 



Northward from the Murrumbidgee the belt of climate suitable for 

 vine-growing is narrow and confined to an elevation from 600 to 1,000 

 feet ; below this the tropical rains do not generally reach, having been 

 intercepted by the high tablelands over which they pass. 



The valley of the Lachlan at and about Forbes possesses a dry but 

 even climate, with command of water within certain limits ; with a 

 supply of water to the vineyard, wine of a very saleable character 

 could be produced in almost any season. The quantity of land on the 

 Upper Lachlan is limited, the country falling from the tableland too 

 rapidly, leaving- but a narrow belt of available land. 



Continuing northerly to the valley of the Macquarie, the climate at 

 Dubbo, elevation 800 feet, is drier still, and admirably suited to the 

 production of raisins, but without watering the wine produced has a 

 tendency to strength and coarseness. 



Ascending the river to Wellington, 1,000 feet elevation, the climate 

 improves, and the tropical rain falls generally at the right time and in fair 

 quantities. The valley of the Cudgegong from Wellington to Mudgee. 

 1,500 feet and upwards, has a climate almost unequalled in the Colony, 

 the tropical rain falling in sufficient c{uantity to secure an abundant 

 yield, capable of producing excellent light wine. If ever a true hock 

 is made in the Colony, it, in all probability, will reward the grower 

 who plants iu this district the German Riesling grape, the only vine 

 capable of producing a true hock. The next western water is at the 

 heads of southern tributaries of the Namoi Eiver, about Quirindi, 

 elevation 1,300 feet, and extending northerly on this watershed is an 

 area not extensive, being limited to a certain geological formation, 

 Ijut, for both soil and climate, unequalled for the production of wine 



