F A R JNl E R S ' REGISTER 



461 



Wales, a quantity of very fine fresh dates, three 

 varieties; the first was called the dale of Oran ; 

 the seconil, tlie Muscat date: both of these were 

 from 'I'uiiK-'. The third was the comirion date of 

 Barhary, to which they attach liule value. 



IFedncsdaij, 7th December. — This morning, at 

 seven o'clock, I quilted Marseilles for Avignon, 

 where I arrived at eiyht in the evening. The 

 whole district from Marseilles till within a lew 

 miles of Aviirnon, is, to all appearance, of the 

 most sterile descripiion, though every where cul- 

 tivated with the greatest care. Aix, about 20 

 miles from Marseilles, is celebrated for the quality 

 of its oils ; but from this town, onwards, the olive 

 becomes more rare, its place being taken, in ge- 

 neral, by the mulberry. The plain round Avignon 

 is said to be one of the richest in France. At 

 Avignon I found that there is a rcifulated price at 

 which the diligences are accustomed to take mer- 

 chandise, much lower than they charge for the 

 additional baggage of a passenger. I accordingly 

 agreed lor the carriage ol" the two cases of vine 

 plants to Lyons. 



Friday^ Oth December, Valence. — Having join- 

 ed the diligence lor this place laie on Thursday 

 evening, 1 arrived about seven this evening, and 

 immediately proceeded to the house of the mer- 

 chant lor whom 1 had brought, a letter. I was 

 informed that he was then from home, and it would 

 be very late belbre he returned. I was, therelbre, 

 prevented joining a diligence which was to [)roceed 

 to Tain at eight next morning. After quitting 

 Avignon I saw no more olives, but the mulberry 

 was most abundant on all sides; tnd every person 

 with whom I have spoken on (he subject, includ- 

 ing Messrs. Durand, Professor Delisle, Messrs. 

 Audibert, Negrel, and Brest, concur in represen- 

 ting the rearing of silk worms as a most profitable 

 pursuit. M. Audibert said, that many persons in 

 their neighborhood who had mulberries did not 

 themselves rear the silk worm, but disposed of the 

 leaves to others. The ordinary price given lor the 

 leaves of a good sized mulberrry tree was from 

 seven to eiglit Irancs; and if the leaves happened 

 to be scarce, so much as 10 or 12 francs have been 

 given. They do not begin to strip the trees of 

 their leaves till they are five or six years old. 



Saturday, lOtk December. — The gentleman to 

 whom 1 brought the letter was not himself a pro- 

 prietor of vineyards at Hermitage, but was request- 

 ed to introduce me to some person having a vine- 

 yard there. On wailing upon him this morning, 

 I found a letter prepared lor me, addressed to 

 Messrs. Richard and Sons, who are eminent wine 

 merchants and bankers in Tournon, a town on the 

 opposite side of the Rhone to Tain, and joined to 

 it by a suspension bridge. On receiving this letter, 

 I hired a vehicle to carry myself and my baggage 

 to Tain, which is a small town, situated on the 

 left bank of the Rhone, on the plain which lies im- 

 mediately between the hill called Hermitage and 

 the river. On presenting my letter, and explain- 

 ing in general terms the object ofmy visit, I enter- 

 ed into conversation with Mr. Richard, senior, re- 

 lative to the wines of Hermitage. The greatest 

 part of the finest growth is sent to Bourdeaux 

 to mix vvith the first growths of claret. Messrs. 

 Richard are themselves proprietors of part of the 

 hill of Hermitage, but not oi'that part which yields 

 the finest wines. Thev are also wine merchants ; 

 but like the Meesrs. Durand of Perpignan, they 



sell it only on the grand scale. One of the sons 

 who manage?! this department, conducted me. 

 over the cellars. The press is more complete than 

 any I have yet seen ; the screw is of iron, and 

 from the closeness of the worm, must be of im- 

 mense power. It is raised in the centre of a 

 square trough, about seven !eet in diameter. The 

 female screw is covered by a horizontal wooden 

 wheel, the spokes of which project over the sides 

 of the trouijh, and are finished off so as to afford a 

 convenient handle for the workmen. At the height 

 of a foot li-om the bottom ofihe trough, on the out- 

 side, there is a circular stage projecting from its 

 sides fijr the woikmen when filling the press, and 

 turning the wheel. The sides of the trough only 

 rise to the height of this stage. The grapes, with- 

 out any previous treading, are built up in the 

 trough to the height of the screw, and when the 

 latter is turned, the must flows from spouts which 

 issue from the bottom of the trough at each side. 

 When the sides of the mass which may have been 

 pressed out so far as to escape from the action of 

 the press have been cut off wiih an instrument re- 

 semblinsr a hay knile, and the press has been rais- 

 ed so as to receive this additional quantity, and 

 again put in operation, the process is complete; 

 not a drop of ??iws< remains in the ?« arc, as the 

 mass of skins and stalks is called. The marc is 

 disposed ofj and employed to produce a bad bran- 

 dy ; for this purpose it is soaked in water to ex- 

 tract any saccharine matter which may remain, 

 and the fluid which it yields, when again pressed, 

 is fermented and distilled. To my astonishment, 

 M.Richard informed me, that by one charge of 

 this press they could obtain 40 casks of wine, of 

 about 50 gallons each. As the must flows fro n\ 

 the press, it is conveyed to the casks, where it ia 

 suH'ered to lerment from five days to a month, ac- 

 cording to the strength of fermentation, the casks 

 being always kept full to permit the scum to es- 

 cape. When the first fermentation is decidedly 

 finished, the wine is drawn off into a clean cask, 

 which has been previously sulphured. This is the 

 whole process of making the white wines of Her- 

 mitage. They are more or less sweet, according 

 to the proportions of sweet and dry grapes which 

 have been united in producing them ; lor they are 

 all made from two varieties, the Marsan yielding a 

 must, which, by itself, would give a sweet wine, 

 and the Rousctie a must, which, by itself, would 

 yield a dry wine. 



The white wine of Hermitage, even after ha- 

 ving undergone the complete fermentation above 

 described, still retains a disposition to effervesce 

 when put into bottle. It is said to be without; 

 question the finest white wine of France, and will 

 keep for 100 years, improving as it gets older ; 

 and when very old, acquiring a similarity to the 

 white wines of Spain. 



For fermenting the red wines, Messrs. Richard 

 have two vats each capable of containing 16,000 

 gallons. Every day, as the grapes are brought 

 from the vineyard, they are trodden, in troughs, 

 and then emptied into the vats ; and while the 

 vats are filling, a man gets into them once a day to 

 tread down the surface. The object of this is to 

 prevent the surface from becoming sour by expo- 

 sure to the air, and to render the ii^rmentation aa 

 equal as possible through the whole mass. When 

 it becomes too deep for a man to tread it to the 

 bottom, he suspends himself by thenniddlc from a 



