222 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CULTURE. 



of former ages. Bountiful nature, replete with benevolence, 

 has bestowed on us every favour within her gift, and asks only 

 of man to aid the developement of her intrinsic riches by 

 the hand of culture. As to the assertions advanced by some 

 foreign writers, that the same grape varies so much by re- 

 moval as to entirely lose its character, and that the same kind 

 of wine can in no case be made from it in different localities, 

 they certainly cannot be supported by facts, and have prin- 

 cipally obtained currency and credence by repetition ; for as 

 positive proof to the contrary, we may quote the Pineau class, 

 which has every where been recognised from the remotest pe- 

 riods, and cannot be mistaken for any other ; and the Meunier, 

 which is only a subvariety of the same family, can never fail 

 to be distinguished. We may also enumerate the Muscat 

 family, which can in no case lose their identity or the pecu- 

 liarities of their class. That the quality of the fruit may be 

 varied by soil, climate, &c. to a certain degree, is acknow- 

 ledged and has been already avowed; the grapes may also 

 be less mature and spirituous in an unfavourable situation, 

 or they may not mature at all in a too rigorous or northern 

 locality, but it not does thence arise that the grape loses its 

 character any more than might be said of an orange tree, 

 which when transplanted too far north should perish totally. 

 For much as its product may be varied and modified by the 

 operation of diverse causes on the maturity of the fruit, and 

 by changes in the process of making wines ; still the primitive 

 character is maintained, and the same grape may be recog- 

 nized ; and however remote the countries may be in which it is 

 planted, a doubt can scarcely exist but that a similar climate 

 attended by the same mode of culture, and a like process 

 in making the wine, will be attended with similar results. 

 Numerous titles have been applied to the same vine in different 

 districts, which have been by some supposed to have been in- 

 fluenced by attendant changes of character, but which are 

 in fact the result of the simplest causes, and arise in the same 

 manner that some of our best known apples or peaches, in 

 transmission through our country, receive numerous appella- 



