CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 93 



gundy. In our own country, the same partiality is mani- 

 fested, to some degree, for favorite localities. For exam- 

 ple, some lands bordering upon Lake Erie are held at 

 from two to three hundred dollars per acre and upwards, 

 which is a great increase over ordinary farming lands. 



A brief description of the peculiarities of the most 

 famous European districts will be interesting and sug- 

 gestive. The world-renowned vineyards of the Rhine dis- 

 trict are planted on both sides of the river, some of the 

 most famous having even a due-north aspect. They are 

 described as having a good deal of clay mixed with the 

 loose stony soil. When a vineyard becomes exhausted 

 after a culture of about thirty years on these steep slopes, 

 it is renewed by adding several inches of clay as well as 

 manure. The clay is necessary to give strength to the 

 otherwise gravelly and loose stony soil. The. Steinberg 

 lands are a bluish clay, the substratum being gravelly. 

 Most of the Rhine soil, the famous Johannisberg for ex- 

 ample, is a very red clay, with gravel freely intermixed. 

 In the Burgundy district, the finest wines are produced 

 from vineyards upon the Cote d^ Or (Golden Hills). This 

 range stretches from Chalons to Dijon, a distance of 

 eighty miles, in a north-east and south-west course. The 

 soil is described as red and gravelly, containing a good 



