142 GKAPE CULTURE AND WINE-:MAK1NG. 



CHAPTER IX. 



GRAPES AND WINES IN CALIFORNIA. 



The Author's Experience. — Climate. — Site. — Soil. — Plowing. — Laying out a Vine- 

 yard. — Digging Holes. — Planting. — Cultivating. — Pruning in different Years. — 

 Summer Pruning. — Crushing. — Cost of Planting a Vineyard. — The Author's Ex- 

 penditure on One hundred Acres. — Quality of the Author's Wines. — Mr. Szemere's 

 Pamphlet. — Adulteration of Wine in Europe. — Quantity of Wine produced in 

 France. — The Wines of Hungary. — Prospects of Wine Culture in California. — 

 Statistics of Wine Culture in Europe. — Good and had Years in Europe. — The 

 Advantages of California as a Wine Country. 



Having given the mode of planting and treating vineyards in 

 different parts of Europe, we deem it necessary to say something 

 of the mode of planting and treating vineyards in California. 



It will be apparent to practical men, who have cultivated vines 

 in this country, that for us to practice many of the systems in 

 use in Europe would be unprofitable, either on account of the 

 difference in climate, or the high jorice of labor in California. On 

 this head, however, we do not anticipate any difl&culty to our in- 

 telligent and reflecting planters, for they will soon determine 

 which mode of cultivation is best adapted to our soil, climate, 

 and price of labor. But, for a guide to beginners, we will give a 

 few extracts from an essay written by the author for the State Ag- 

 ricultural Society in 1858. It should be remarked, however, that 

 a farther experience of four years j)roves that some of the in- 

 structions laid down in this essay require modification. We 

 have arrived at this conclusion by careful observation of our 

 own, having a vineyard of some four hundred acres, which, to 

 the best of our belief, is the largest in the United States. "We 

 frankly confess that the result of careful experiments, made on 

 similar soils, has changed some of our opinions, and our error was 

 clearly proved by observations on our late European tour. We 

 hold that confessing an opinion formed to have been erroneous 

 is not only proper, but a duty we owe to science. 



Whenever, in the extract from the e.ssay, a difference of opin- 

 ion between what we then held and what we have since formed 



