lt> GRAPE CULTURE AND 



venient system of pruning, and make a fair drinkable wine in 

 most seasons. But when they came to handle the product 

 for wine, they forgot or overlooked that our long, dry sum- 

 mers always give us a grape rich in sugar, and that every fruit 

 has a period in its ripening when it is most lively and most 

 sprightly to the taste. In Europe, where grapes do not ripen 

 so fully, it becomes necessary to let them hang as long as 

 possible, to bring out their full amount of sugar, necessary to 

 make a fine wine; while here they are apt to become over- 

 ripe, and as it needs a certain amount of acids to develop the 

 full bouquet and sprightliness of each variety, the natural 

 consequences of late harvests were very fiery, heady wines; 

 either with a great deal of alcohol, or very often badly fermented, 

 unpalatable and milksour. They w r ere not wines to "make 

 glad the heart of man," but such as would make his head 

 swim and feel uncomfortable. These were placed upon the 

 markets as California hocks and clarets, and did not, as may 

 be expected, please the palates of those who were accustomed 

 to the finer and lighter wines of France and Germany. They 

 pronounced them heady, earthy, and in many cases unfit to 

 drink. The natural consequences of such a course was, that 

 California wines fell into disrepute and could not find buyers 

 at any price; grapes could not be sold at figures to pay for the 

 gathering and working of the vineyards, and hogs were turned 

 in to fatten on their products. This was one of the first mis- 

 takes committed; owing partly to an inferior variety of grapes, 

 partly to faulty management of the crop; and retarded for 

 a while the further development of the industry. 



But still the incontrovertible fact remained, that some fair 

 wines had been made, that the vineyards produced regularly a 

 good crop of healthy grapes, and that sweet wines could be 

 made, even of the Mission. Grape growing had started in 

 Southern California, and on irrigated land, but it had gradu- 

 ally spread to the more northern parts. Experiments had 



