FARMERS' REGISTER 



467 



The same taxes are also raised, but they are of fri- 

 flins amount. Most of the emigrants, including 

 Swiss, Germans. Italians, and a few Spaniards, 

 have become dealers, leavinir to llie Bedouins the 

 cultivation of their land. The iioslile Bedouins 

 come down upon the outposts in bands of 15,000 

 or 20,000, but they cannot withstand the aitaclis 

 of a small body of disciplined troops. 



The very eminent wine house of Messrs. Rui- 

 nart and Son, of Rlieims, are agents lor Herries, 

 Farquhar atid Co.'s note?. Having called upon 

 ihem 10 cash one oftliese, M. Ruinarf, junior, con- 

 ducted me over their wine cellars, which are very 

 extensive, and all subterranean, consisting of three 

 under-ground stores, one beneath another, all 

 mined out of the limestone rock. The wine which 

 has received the last attentions which it requires, 

 and is ready lor expediting lo (he consumer, is 

 packed in large square masses, bottle above bot- 

 tle, and side b\^ side, with no other precaution to 

 keep them steady than a lath passing along be- 

 tween the necks of one layer and the butts of the 

 next layer above. They generally send the wine 

 to the consumer at the age of three and four years, 

 but after the first winter, it is all put in bottle. The 

 stock, therefore, appears immense, and, indeed, it 

 is very large, for not only are different qualities re- 

 quired but also different descriptions, to suit the 

 varyincy tastes of their customers in England, 

 America, and Russia, to which countries Messrs. 

 Ruinart make their chief exports. A gentleman, 

 with whom I travelled, told me he could buy very 

 good sound Champagne at Chalons for two francs 

 a bottle, and was then going to purchase 100 bottles 

 at that price ; but respectable wine merchants 

 never send any lo England under three francs a 

 bottle. What is sent lo England is more spiritu- 

 ous, and fi-oths more stronglv than what is sold 

 for domestic consumption. The greatest and most 

 minute attentions are necessary in preparing 

 Champagne. The casks in which it ferments, 

 after running from the press, are previously sul- 

 phured, to prevent the fermentation from proceed- 

 ing to too great a length. It is twice clarified, 

 during the winter, and in the month of March, 

 before the return of spring has renewed the fer- 

 mentation, it is bottled off. When in this stale 

 the bottles are placed in frames, diagonally, with 

 their heads downwards. The lees are thus col- 

 lected in the neck of the bottle ; but they do not 

 consider it necessary to uncork the bottles as soon 

 as the wine is perfectly clear, nor is it considered 

 that there is any danger of the wine spoiling if 

 the return of warm weather should cause a recom- 

 mencement of the fermentation, and remix the lees 

 through the wine. On ihe contrary, they some- 

 times allow the lees to remain to ripen, as they 

 term it, longer than usual. The wine, in general, 

 remains in this state till the following winter; 

 each bottle is then placed in a frame, and care- 

 fully uncorked. The contents of Ihe neck of the 

 bottle are emptied. It is filled up from another 

 bottle of the same wine, and being recorked, only 

 now requires age to give it all the perfection it is 

 capable of. It of course often happens, that the 

 wine has either undergone less than the usual fer- 

 mentation, or, being stronger than usual, requires 

 a greater fermentation before being put into bottles; 

 and it consequently happens that the fermentation 

 Jn the bottles is greater than they can bear, and 

 <hat a large proportion of ihem burst during the 



first summer. The floors of the wine cellars are 

 all covered with grooves sloping to a gutter, by 

 which the wine which has burst the bottles is con- 

 veyed to a cistern in the floor ; and as there is 

 most perfect cleanliness observed, a part of the 

 wine is thus sometimes saved. 



Mr. Ruinart, Junior, is a large proprietor of 

 vines at Ay, where the first qualities of frothing 

 Champagne are made, and to this place he strongly 

 recommended my proceeding, in order to have the 

 most favourable view of the vineyards of Cham- 

 pagne, ol which, he said, the cultivation was every 

 where nearly similar, although conducted at dif- 

 ferent places with more or less care. He says the 

 ordinary produce of his own vineyards is from 10 

 to 12 pieces, of about 46 gallons per arpent, which 

 is aboiat a 25th part more than an English acre; 

 that is, from 440 to 539 gallons per English acre. 

 Having determined on visiting Ay. M. Ruinart 

 gave me a letter to his manager, t)|ut he said he 

 expected him next day at Rheims, and would 

 give him full instructions on seeing him. 



Thursday, 22d December. — At six o'clock this 

 mornmg 1 joined the voiture for Epernay, where I 

 arrived at eleven o'clock. Alter breakfast I imme- 

 diately proceeded to Ay, intending lo return the 

 next day also to meet the agent of JM. Ruinart, 

 should i not be satisfied with the information I 

 might procure in his absence. Ay is a small town 

 on the right bank of the river Marne, a little high- 

 er up than Epernay which is situated on the left 

 bank. On both sides of the river there is a range 

 of chalky hills, but separated also by a very beau- 

 tiful meadow about a mile in width. These hills 

 are of no great elevation, and are more or less 

 steep, but in no place is the soil required to be sup- 

 ported by terraces. The range of hills above the 

 town of Ay is exposed to the full south, except 

 where the exposure is varied by recesses in the 

 range; it consequently produces wine of the finest 

 qnaliiy, and very superior lo that of Epernay, 

 which is produced on hills exposed to the north. 

 I walked through the meadow with great difficul- 

 ty and labor, the road being almost impassable in 

 some places, owing to the depth of the mud. On 

 arriving at Ay, I delivered my letter to Madam 

 Hazart, the wife of M. Rninart's manager, and ex- 

 pressed my doubts whether I should return the 

 next day. She immediately called the maitre vig- 

 neron to proceed with melo the vineyard, and an- 

 other to obtain the plants which the letter express- 

 ed my wish to procure. The depth of soil, before 

 reaching the chalk on the hill of Ay, is, in most 

 places, according to the report of the vigneron, 10 

 to 15 feet ; nor is he aware of any diflTerence being 

 occasioned in the quality of the wine when the 

 chalk comes nearer the surface, which happens 

 a little farther to ihe east, where they also make 

 wines of the first quality. The soil is stron'jiy cal- 

 careous, lull of small pieces of chalk, and of stones. 

 Near the top of the hill the soil is more argillace- 

 ous and stronger than towards the bottom; and 

 this, in some degree, afl'ects Ihe qnalitv of the 

 wine, but not in a great degree. Th" rrr^'-M differ- 

 ence is caused by diflerence in expo-'ui'e, that to 

 the south producing nnilbrmly the be^t ; where 

 the soil is ihe same from the ton to the bottom, ihe 

 middle region of the hill is still the most valuable, 

 for it is less subject to Ihe injuries which early 

 frosts frequently occasion in the lower region, and 

 enjoys in general a warmer sun, especially towards 



