VI PREFACE. 



the beginner, I also hope to make it interesting enough for 

 those who count their vineyards by the hundreds and even 

 thousands of acres. I hope to give a true and full picture of 

 this giant industry, none the less gigantic because yet in its 

 infancy, and which owes so much to their enthusiasm and en- 

 terprise. They will furnish the wines for the million, and it 

 is truly a noble and proud task to furnish to every laborer a 

 sound, cheap and palatable wine, at less cost than tea or cof- 

 fee. We want their assistance to make this great nation tem- 

 perate, convert them into wine drinkers, instead of drinking 

 so called brandy and whisky, the banes of so many otherwise 

 happy households. And for this object we may safely claim 

 the help of the ladies also. I am proud of the active part so 

 many of them have already taken in the viticulture of Califor- 

 nia. There are not a few of them who successfully manage 

 vineyards and wine cellars of hundreds of acres, and hundreds 

 of thousands of gallons. May their numbers increase, and 

 they become our helpmates in this as in every good work. I 

 am sure that I commit no indiscretion if I mention the names 

 of Mrs. Kate F. Warfield and Mrs. Hood of Sonoma Valley, 

 and Mrs. Weinberger of St. Helena, as among the foremost 

 in this State, while the illustrious example of Madame la 

 Duchess de Fitz James, who has already replanted about two 

 thousand acres destroyed by the phylloxera, on her estates in 

 Herault, France, has given the results of her experience to the 

 public in several books, and inspired new confidence in the 

 industry into the poor despairing peasantry of that district, 

 who saw their only means of livelihood failing them, should 

 not be forgetten here. I use the term " illustrious " advisedly, 

 not in reference to her rank ; for I am Republican enough to 

 have little regard for the accidental privilege of noble birth; 

 but a woman who does such noble work, winds a more shin- 

 ing and lasting crescent around her brow than monarchs can 

 confer, and birth bestow, and is worthy to be counted among 



