PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CULTURE. 627 



mate, and of government, that all which is required of us is 

 but to exercise our judgment and our skill in perfecting the 

 advantages which nature has so liberally tendered ; by the ex- 

 ercise of which, the balance of trade, of wealth, and of power, 

 cannot fail to be for ever secured to us. 



The present extent of American vineyards, and the rapid 

 advances now making in their formation, do not properly con- 

 stitute part of the present volume ; but on that subject the most 

 ample and detailed information will be given in the ensuing 

 one. I will here therefore only give some cursory remarks on 

 that head from the pen of an intelligent writer of Pennsylvania. 



" The vine culture seems to have become a favourite pursuit 

 with the agriculturists of the present day, and forms an object 

 of great promise in York county, Pa. Experiments have 

 already shewn that the vine will not only flourish in the poor- 

 er soils of that county, but that excellent wine can be made 

 there, and that vineyards will become as profitable as any 

 other agricultural pursuit. A portion of the lands in York 

 county is poor and thin, commonly called barrens, and it has 

 been proved that the vine succeeds well on it, and twenty 

 acres of it, which can now be bought at from $6 to $10 per 

 acre, when planted with vines, and at maturity, will be more 

 productive to the owner than two hundred acres of the best 

 land in the county, devoted to other culture. There are per- 

 haps not less than thirty or forty vineyards within twenty miles 

 of the borough of York, and nearly all commenced within 

 three years. Should this disposition increase, and as a con- 

 sequence the wine-press be made to take the place of the dis- 

 tillery, it will benefit the morals of the community. Among 

 what are called civilized nations, the vice of drunkenness has 

 always been found to prevail most extensively where the vine 

 is not cultivated ; while on the other hand, where that culture 

 is widely extended, the temperance of the people is proverbial." 



Similar sentiments and like prospects of success seem to 

 pervade all parts of our country where the culture of the vine 

 has received merited attention ; and the daily increasing devo- 

 tion to the subject in the formation of additional vineyards, 



