54 



The Grape Culturist. 



make the greatest possible quantity, 

 as the consumption, and consequently 

 the demand was greatly on the in- 

 crease ; by the ravages committed by 

 the raw soldateska during the Thirty 

 Tears' War were so enormous, that 

 in the little duchy of Wuertemberg 

 alone no les than 40,000 acres of vine- 

 yards were devastated and laid waste- 

 In the middle ages the Baths. Keller 

 or council cellars, played a conspicous 

 part in all affairs of importance in 

 Germany. It was there that the "Fa- 

 thers of the City" met, to deliberate 

 on affairs concerning the prosperity 

 of the commonwealth, and always 

 over a jorum of wine. But not only 

 Tvas it the council chamber, but also 

 the state recgptionroom, where foreign 

 potentates or their ambassadors had 

 audience of the magistrates on their 

 passage through the city, and where 

 they were regaled with wine as a 

 welcome. In the same manner as in 

 these days, in firing salutes, the num- 



ber of guns is regulated by the rank 

 of the person so honored, so formerly 

 the measure of welcome was indica- 

 ted by the quantity of wine set before 

 the guest. Thus, at Lubeck a king, 

 in travelling through or visiting the 

 city, was regaled with 16 stubchens 

 of hock (for hock appears to have been 

 the favorite wine in those times) ; a 

 queen, 8 ; an elector, 12; an electress, 

 6 ; a duke, 8 ; a duchess 4 ; a bishop, 

 4 ; a count, 4 ; abbots, knights, burgo- 

 masters, and doctors, 2 each. The 

 cities of the Hanseatic League fre- 

 quently sent presents of wine to the 

 neighboring sovereigns to propriate 

 them — which was of the greater im- 

 portance, as it induced them to exer- 

 cise greater vigilance in taking mea- 

 sures for the security of the roads 

 through their dominions, on which 

 the commercial traffic of the free 

 cities so much depended. 



Monthh/ S/aiistics. 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE SOIL UPON THE CHARACTER OF WINES. 



Perhaps no where is the influence 

 of the soil and its ingredients so ap- 

 parent as in the difference of charac- 

 ter of our native wines. It is pecu- 

 liar, that it will assimilate more of 

 the ingredients of the soil, and ehoAv 

 their peculiarities in its product — 

 wine — than in almost any other plant; 

 and perhaps no soil contains more 

 free salts, than the so called virgin 

 soil of America. That those salts 

 have a dominating influence upou the 

 character of the wine, we hope to 



show more fully in our article "the 

 chemistry of wine." 



We find a striking illustration of 

 this in a comparison, which we lately 

 made, between samples of the wines 

 produced at Hermann, Mo., on the 

 southern side of the Missouri River, 

 and some made at Portland, Caliawaj' 

 Co., Mo., on the northern side, by 

 Messrs Kaiser, Ehrich, and A. Eber- 

 hai'd. While the wines of IIcrmauR 

 have more of the foxy aroma, and 

 more body as Avell as acidity, those 



