HOCHHEIM, STEINBERG, AND JOHANNISBERG. 67 



posed of a bluish clay, though the substrata is gravel. The vines 

 are only Riesling ; the distance at which they are planted is three 

 feet in the rows, and four feet between the rows. The vineyards 

 last about thirty years, when they arc cut out, and the land rests 

 for three years. During the first of these three years they haul 

 some of the manured blue clay, and spread it over the vacant 

 ground about a foot thick. This is done during the summer. 

 Then it is plowed over several times, and clover raised upon it 

 during its years of rest. The average yield of this vineyard is 

 40 stiick, or 10,000 gallons. 



Adjoining this vineyard is a farm-yard, which is leased for a 

 period of time, with all the land, to a farmer ; but he is obliged 

 to furnish so many loads of manure annually, as it is indispensa- 

 ble to the Steinberg vineyards. I also saw his milk-house, and 

 his cattle, which are not allowed to leave the stable even for wa- 

 tering. He considered his stock very fine, but I have seen much 

 better in California. 



From there we went to the old Convent of Eberbach, which is 

 at present partly a state Penitentiary, and the remainder is the 

 cellar of the Duke of Nassau. The deputy master of the cellars 

 opened them, the coopers belonging to the cellars entered, and 

 in about a quarter of an hour we were invited to go in. Upon 

 coming into the cellar a beautiful sight lay before us. Hundreds 

 of lights illumined the room. There were two rows of barrels of 

 250 gallons each, and upon the end of each was a sperm candle 

 lighted. The barrels being of an equal size, the effect was very 

 fine. This first cellar is about 100 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 

 25 feet high. It contains several rows of barrels, of which only 

 the two in the centre were lighted. From this we reached a still 

 larger cellar, built square, with the arches resting upon a fine col- 

 umn in the centre. The barrels are placed in a circle, leaving a 

 large space of about thirty feet vacant. Each barrel bore a light- 

 ed candle, which added still more to the grandeur of the effect. 

 Around the central column is a table, on which were placed about 

 forty glasses for tasting the wine. From this cellar there is still 

 another, which also was lighted. It is about 100 feet in length. 



Upon returning to the middle cellar we stopped at the table 

 before-mentioned ; the deputy then ordered wine to be brought 

 from the year 1822 to 1859 : beyond this year the wines are not 

 presentable. The reader may imagine with what caution we put 

 ourselves to the task of tasting. To describe the wines would be 



