SECRETARY'S REPORT. 311 



tion of his vineyards, at the government expense, and must 

 look out for himself. 



It is easy to see, that where land is held in such extremely 

 small lots as it often is in France and the Rhine provinces, and 

 indeed in many other parts of Europe, the expense of fences 

 must be very large, and for many of the poorer farmers quite 

 out of tlie question. I was often struck with amazement at 

 the perfect security of flowers about railway stations and in the 

 public grounds, about palaces and other buildings, till I learned 

 that molesting even the smallest flower is severely punished 

 by fines. The police are everywhere present, also, and the 

 chance of escape, I apprehend, would be extremely small. 



Again, I often asked what varieties of the grape were culti- 

 vated ? Whether they were known by any general names ? 

 The most common variety is called the Riessling. It is a small 

 white grape, rather harsh, but said to make a wine of fine 

 " bouquet," especially in a hot, dry season. Then the Klein- 

 berger is a favorite grape, very productive, ripening early. 

 The small Orleans grape furnishes a strong bodied wine. Most 

 of the Rhine grapes are white, very few red varieties being 

 cultivated here. It appears that at a congress of fruit-growers, 

 held at Mayence, it was ascertained that there are about ninety 

 varieties of grapes bearing different names, in the Rhenish 

 provinces, and from all Germany about fifteen hundred different 

 kinds were represented, many of them having local names, but 

 really the same. 



How is it in regard to the profits of vineyards ? In a good 

 year they pay well. They create a great demand for labor, and 

 prosperity is the consequence. But there are seasons of failure, 

 bad years, in which the vine-grower has to suffer great loss, 

 and the community is brought to the verge of starvation. A 

 celebrated political economist says the people of wine and silk 

 making districts are the poorest and least intelligent and most 

 miserable of any, owing to the uncertainties of this culture, the 

 result often depending on influences beyond the control of art 

 and industry. For these bad years cannot be foreseen and 

 provided against. Vineyards, therefore, must be owned by 

 large proprietors, who can afford to lose a year or two now and 

 then, while the poor laborers who depend upon their daily 



