PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CULTURE. 223 



tions derived from the names of their owners or the fancy of 

 their cultivators. 



The vines of Madeira may be enumerated as succeeding 

 among us to an eminent degree, exhibiting the greatest vigour 

 in their growth, and yielding in favourable locations fruit and 

 wine which combine virtues equal to those whence they were 

 derived. 



In making our selections, the principal point to be observed 

 in addition to the natural properties of the fruit, is the necessary 

 applicability of the variety to the severity or mildness of the 

 climate, a subject which has been already fully discussed in 

 the chapter commencing at page 59. 



It is however within the bounds of reasonable supposition, 

 that species peculiar to any country with their attendant va- 

 rieties, may in some cases possess a natural aptness or applica- 

 bility to their respective regions. But even this peculiar 

 adaptation subsides after removal by long culture ; for it must 

 be borne in mind, that the species of the vine now the most 

 cultivated, -was a stranger to all those countries where it now 

 receives its fullest developement ; alike to the vineyards of 

 France, Tokay, Spain, Oporto, the Cape, and the Madeira 

 isles. And even in several of the West India islands, beneath 

 a tropical sun, a number of varieties are successfully culti- 

 vated, a fact of which European writers seem to be absolutely 

 ignorant. 



The extent of our territory over which the vine culture may 

 be advantageously diffused, will afford a subject for much 

 speculation. A doctrine advanced by European writers, is, 

 that the region of the maize culture is also that of the vine. 

 This region in France extends from the Mediterranean coast 

 nearly to the Loire, including Poitou, and the country south 

 of a line from thence to Nancy. The wine country of France 

 extends from the Mediterranean to the north of that line, since 

 profitable vineyards are found in Champagne, Maine, Orleans, 

 and the central part of Lorraine, where the maize is never 

 cultivated as a crop. By parity of reason, the vine may be 

 cultivated with equal profit, from the gulf of Mexico to those 



