TI PREFACE. 



this will change; I hope to yet see the day in which Cali- 

 fornia may proudly claim a place in the front rank in the 

 production of fine wines, and when they will boldly sail 

 under their true colors. 



To accomplish this change, we need a closer study of 

 the best varieties for each location, and rational treatment 

 according to their habits ; we need more skill in the mak- 

 ing and handling of wines ; more especially do we require 

 a free and unshakled expression and interchange of ex- 

 perience and opinions among grape growers. The State 

 Viticultural Commission, created by act of Legislature 

 approved in April, 1880, with an annual appropriation of 

 ten thousand dollars, have done a great deal to spread 

 information, and to gather it. The first Convention of 

 grape growers, held in Dashaway Hall, San Francisco, 

 in September, 1883, brought together perhaps the largest 

 and finest exhibition of grapes and wines ever held in the 

 State, and elicited much valuable information. But un- 

 fortunately it was also characterized by a dictatorial and 

 arbitrary spirit, which did not allow as free and liberal 

 an interchange of experience as could be wished, and a 

 great deal of time was consumed in learned essays and 

 impracticable theories, which could have been more profit- 

 ably devoted to experience from practical men, who were 

 in a measure shut out from the discussions, if their views 

 did not happen to coincide with those of the ruling spirits. 

 Let us hope that a more liberal spirit may prevail in the 

 future, and that the next convention will give us a full 

 and free expression of the views of all practical men. 



We need close attention to insect pests, and especially 

 to the Phylloxera, which has already made serious inroads 

 in many sections of the State, and may become as de- 

 structive to our vineyards in the near future, as it has 

 already been in France. We want to prevent its ravages, 

 not by costly insecticides, or by quarantine, but by the 

 only rational method, the planting of vines able to resist 



