250 



The World's Commercial Products 



Grown. It was in 1653 that Van Riebeck, the founder of the first European settlement at 

 the Cape, planted the first vines in Table Valley. The vines were brought from the Rhine 

 vineyards, and since they flourished in their new home, large numbers of plants were brought 

 into the country from Germany and France. Van Riebeck had probably already noted the 

 presence of several species of vine at the Cape, and since it is known that he was a keen observer 

 of Nature, it is highly probable that he early conceived the idea of experimenting in the new 

 country with the vines from Europe. 



The earliest account of a vintage is in 1659, and it appears that the Dutch took up the 

 new industry with considerable determination, for we find that in 1681 the first brandy was dis- 

 tilled, and six years later the total number 

 of vines planted in the colony was no less 

 than half a million. By 1710 the cultiva- 

 tion had increased enormously, for, in a 

 report furnished to the Dutch East India 

 Company, we find that the vines planted 

 numbered 2,729,300, and that small quan- 

 tities of the wine produced had actually 

 been shipped to Europe and Java. At the 

 time viticulture was the most prominent 

 feature of Cape agriculture, and, relatively 

 speaking, was much more important than 

 at the present day. About a hundred 

 years later the number of vines had 

 increased to considerably over twenty-two 

 millions, and the export of wine reached a 

 total of 21,300 pipes. It will come as a 

 surprise to most people to learn that at 

 about this time (1822) England imported 

 more wine from the Cape than she did 

 from France, the actual figures being 

 11,211 tuns from our neighbours across 

 the Channel and nearly 19,000 tuns from 

 South Africa. 



During the last century the cultivation 

 of the vine was extended, but in spite of 

 the increase in the number and extent of 

 the vineyards, the export of wine gradually 

 diminished, and at the present time wine 

 occupies a very low position in the exports of the country. This undesirable state of affairs 

 has been due largely to the disastrous diseases and pests which have attacked the vines from 

 time to time, and on more than one occasion the industry has been on the verge of ruin. In 

 1858 the destructive fungus oidium attacked the vineyards and threatened to destroy .them,, 

 but its ravages were mitigated and finally checked by the vigorous adoption of the sulphur 

 treatment, and the. crops were restored. In 1885 the dreaded pest phylloxera appeared near 

 Mowbray, and "while at first; it was hoped that the disease could be stamped out by the 

 eradication of all vines^in the- infected areas, it soon became evident that the insect spread 

 too rapidly to cope with its ravages in this way, and the struggle against phylloxera had to 

 be totally abandoned. The vignerons, however, did not despair, but, profiting by the 

 experience, of .the.>, viticulturjsts of Europe, commenced the importation of phylloxera-resisting 

 American; stocks, the use of which- in combating- the pest has been described above. At the 

 present time large nurseries of American vines are established at Constantia, Stellenbosch, 

 and the Paarl. 



A PORTABLE WINE-PRESS 



