CHARACTER OF THE WINE. 37 



think of the matter, I must state, that I cannot in all instances 

 find in the Materia Medica a substitute for them ; and while I 

 am disposed to go as far as any one, in excluding strong 

 drinks from the daily use of people in health, I must express 

 my satisfaction, at finding we can produce in our own coun- 

 try, a pure, healthy wine, well adapted to medicinal pur- 

 poses, and far superior to the adulterated, poisonous foreign 

 compounds, that often find their way to the bedsides of the 

 sick, under the names of ' Lisbon,' * Madeira,' &c. &c." 



In the Horticulturist, Vol. 1, p. 53, Mr. Downing says : — 

 " Mr. LoNGwoRTH of Cincinnati very obligingly sent us last 

 month a case of American wine, the product of his vineyards 

 on the banks of the Ohio. 



' ' We have been in the highest degree pleased with these 

 wines. They severally are the product of the Catawba, Cape, 

 Isabella, and Missouri grapes — all native sorts. The very 

 best is the Catawba, of which we received samples of several 

 vintaofes. The character of the wine is that of excellent 

 hock, like the better class wines of the Rhine. 



" We sent a bottle of this Catawba wine to one of the old- 

 est and most respectable wine houses in this country, Messrs. 

 BiNNiNGER & Co., New York. These gentlemen wrote us in 

 reply : — *We are very much gratified in having an opportu- 

 nity of tasting this wine, which is the first American wine 

 <»hat deserves the name of wine, that we have ever seen. It 

 strongly resembles hock, and we should have pronounced it 

 such.' " 



Mr. Downing farther says: — "These wines are entirely 

 pure, without the addition of alcohol, and the temperance 

 cause has everything to gain and nothing to lose, by a general 

 production and consumption of such a wholesome beverage. 

 This, every one familiar with the hock and claret districts of 

 Europe, where ardent spirits are not used, will cheerfully 

 bear testimony to. Indeed, until such wines can be produced, 

 and afforded, as they soon will be, pure, and at low prices at 



