188, GRAPE CULTURE AND 



phur used in vineyards the world over, and whether this sul- 

 phur sold mostly in commerce as " Sicily seconds" and con- 

 taining not to exceed 3% oi ash impurities, has gone first to 

 Marseilles or Antwerp to be ground or sublimed ; or whether 

 it has come to New York or California to be ground or sub- 

 limed, has made but one essential difference to California 

 vineyardists, viz : All sulphur sublimed without the United 

 States pays a duty on entering our posts of one cent per 

 pound, which sometimes makes an addition of nearly 50% to 

 the selling cost. All other brimstone, crude or ground, ex- 

 cept in rolls, pays no duty. 



1 desire to draw particular attention to this difference for 

 the instruction of those who have with this as with California 

 wine in past years, been led to believe, that any goods bearing 

 a French label ar^ better than those produced at home. The 

 case is a parallel to that by which our wine drinkers were 

 long duped by French labels. 



Some may claim that the sulphur ground or sublimed in 

 Europe is finer than that prepared in California. To deter- 

 mine this I have examined carefully over twenty samples of 

 sulphur which I have been collecting and carefully sampling 

 for several years past, with the following results : Domestic 

 preparations of sublimed sulphur have averaged as fine as 

 those from Marseilles or Belgium. Of the ground sulphur, 

 that produced in California has generally proved the finer, 

 and the finest of all prepared by either method was ground 

 sulphur prepared in California. 



So much to the credit of the home industry. I have 

 learned direct from the leading importer of foreign prepared 

 sulphur that generally the Europeans do not grind as fine as 

 is the practice in California ; but that if California markets so 

 demand, it may be prepared as fine as needed. This is be- 

 cause they expect us to use sublimed sulphur if sulphur in' J a 

 fine condition be needed. They care little about the import 



