112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and others, in wine-growing countries, all going to prove that 

 where the vine is found, in most abundance, there is no intem- 

 perance ; that the people are healthy, temperate, thrifty and 

 cheerful. A clergyman of this State, who passed two years in 

 France for his health, going all over it, for the most part on 

 foot, told me that in all the wine districts he found temperance, 

 but the moment he got into those districts where the grape 

 could not be grown, where they drank beer and brandy distilled 

 from the potato, and froilf beet-waste, there he found intemper- 

 ance immediately. And that is the universal testimony. Now, 

 all the world will have stimulants, for necessities ; for debility 

 arising from sickness, or age, or that form of disease — if it is a 

 disease — dyspepsia, where you cannot digest your food. Physi- 

 cians prescribe stimulants, and until an abundant supply of 

 wine is made, these noxious drinks will be used. It seems to 

 me that it is not only better for us to use wine, but better for 

 the cause of temperance. I believe that, and I have acted upon 

 it. My cellar is full of wine. I will not sell it against the law. 

 If the law never permits mo to sell it, it will stay there until 

 my friends help me to drink it. I might have received as much 

 money, perhaps more, for my fruit upon the spot, but I thought 

 I would work out the problem for the benefit of the State, and 

 for the benefit of temperance. I was once an ardent temper- 

 ance man, and believed and said that spirits should never be 

 used by anybody, sick or well. I believed it, ^lonestly, and I 

 urged it upon our people. By-and-by, I fell sick myself, and 

 my physician said, " You must take spirit with your dinner." 

 I objected ; said I could not do it ; that I did not believe in it ; 

 that I had always preached the other doctrine, and I would not 

 do it. 1 did not do it ; for a whole year I suffered, until I was 

 finally driven to it, and then I began to jthink that possibly I 

 might be mistaken. Now, since it is certain that stimulants 

 must be had, it would seem to be wise to supplant those which 

 we have, which lead to intoxication, and have a wholly different 

 effect upon the system from pure domestic wines, by wines 

 made in our own land. They will be light. Wine cannot be 

 transported unless it is strong, and therefore the foreign wines 

 are strong. 



But I am wandering from the question. There are other 

 aspects of this question which I should like to touch upon, 



