Chapter XI. 



ACCLIMATIZATION AND HEREDITY. 



Scientific literature is full of illustrations of the natural and arti- 

 ficial acclimatization of i)lants and the influence of the annual varia- 

 tions of climate on the crops, all of which exemplify Linsser's general 

 laws. 



GRAPEVINE. 



The following remarks and data relative to the changes of climate 

 during the historical period, as given by Fritz (1889, pp. 206-269), 

 will be valuable for further study and are referred to in another part 

 of this work : 



The northern boundary of vine culture in Europe extends from 

 somewhat north of the mouth of the Loire, where the Marne empties 

 into the Seine, to the junction of the Aar and the Rhine, north of the 

 Erzgebirge, to about the fifty-second degree of latitude, descends 

 along the Carpathians to the forty-ninth degree, extends on this 

 parallel eastward, and near the Volga turns southward to its mouth, 

 on the Caspian Sea. In the middle ages wine was made in the south 

 of England, in Gloucester and Windsor; in the Netherlands; in 

 Namur, Liege, Louvain; in northern Germany, in the Eifel range of 

 hills in Sauerland (a division of Rhenish Prussia), on the slopes of 

 the Ruhr Mountains, on the Weser as far as Raddesdorf, in lesser 

 Waldeck (or Pyrmont) ; in Hesse as far as Fritzlar; in Thuringia, in 

 Brandenburg, and in lower Lusatia; in Berlin, Brandenburg, Oder- 

 berg, Guben ; in Prussia, at Kulm, Neuenburg, Thorn, Marienburg, 

 even beyond Konigsberg; in Kurland (Courland), and even in 

 Seeland (Zealand) the vine has been cultivated in great quantities. 

 Although, we have very favorable accounts of many harvests in those 

 times, even for the highest of the latitudes mentioned above, still 

 one must not generalize too far. The sensation of taste is very vari- 

 able and often peculiar. We frequently at the present time obtain 

 a very sour beverage from countries reputed to produce good wine, 

 and in the north we eat grapes which farther south are considered 

 very sour. It must be taken for granted that in those times when 

 there was no communication over long distances they were not very 

 exacting in regard to wine, particularly as the best wines were 

 unknown, as must have been the case in northern Germany, the 

 Netherlands, and England. If the wine was harsh and sour, it was 

 still wine, which in favorable years, and even in those latitudes where 

 the crop did excellently well, could be made into a very drinkable 

 beverage. In later times, and when better wines became known, when 



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