AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE. 181 



wealth and comfort for the district. This is far from 

 being everywhere the case, for the reason before assigned, 

 that considerable capital is requisite to make the cultiva- 

 tion of the vine a profitable occupation. A vineyard is, 

 however, an undoubted token for an Englishman that 

 sunshine is common where it is found, and sunshine 

 alone is a precious gift. The wanderer in the vale of 

 the Ahr will soon feel the satisfaction which all must 

 experience on finding that its inhabitants have a compen- 

 sation allotted to them for the general rudeness of the 

 soil and the severe climate of the valley in winter. 



As we progress up the Rhine it is interesting to watch 

 the vineyards that seem to spring from bank to bank and 

 from precipice to precipice, according as a southern 

 aspect can be obtained. The wildest thickets alternate 

 with these vineyards, which bear appearance of the most 

 careful cultivation all along. Endless is the labour with 

 which the steep hill-side is carefully terraced, from the 

 top to the base, wherever the slope is so rapid as to 

 cause the soil to be washed down by heavy rains. Al- 

 though the manure of which the vine is greedy has to be 

 carried up in baskets to the vineyards on these heights, 

 and the labour they demand is constant, yet the winzer 

 is indefatigable, and as little inclined to scrutinize closely 

 the true cost of cultivation as his neighbour the peasant 

 corn-grower in the lowland village. The years of dis- 

 appointment are also numerous. To one good vintage 

 there are estimated two of ordinary yield, two of poor 

 crops, and one total failure ; so that the hard labour in the 

 vineyard is accompanied by never-ceasing anxiety of the 

 owner for the result of his toil. This is best evinced by' 

 the following official statement of the crops : — 



i3 



