THE VINE IN RUSSIA. 847 



beginning of the seventeenth century. During the latter half of the 

 same century Kussiau vintners were sent to the river Terek, and laid 

 the foundation of the present grape culture in that district. 



In Transcaucasia the culture of the vine dates back to immemorial 

 times, and the opinion prevails that the diffusion of the grape-vine over 

 Europe proceeded from this country. 



In the Taurida peninsula and modern Bessarabia the grape culture 

 owes its origin to the Grecian colonies founded there some six centuries 

 'before the Christian era. Old Grecian amphora, which have been found 

 on the banks of the Don, justify the inference that the Greeks extended 

 the culture of the grape to these districts also. 



In the Crimea, grape culture attained its prime between the eleventh 

 and fifteenth centuries, under the dominion of the Genoese. Under the 

 Tartars, however, it fell into decay, similar to that of the Caucasian dis- 

 tricts under the rule of the Turks and Persians. With the accession of 

 the Russians the grape culture began to flourish again, and was ex- 

 tended by them to the Kuban and Terek districts. 



In the following short review of the grape culture in the various dis- 

 tricts of Russia, the data given (with the exception of Bessarabia and 

 the Don districts) refer to the period of 1870 and 1874. 



GEAPE CULTURE IN EUROPEAN RUSSIA. 



1. In Bessarabia the culture of the vine extends over the whole Gov- 

 ernment and into the bordering districts of the Governments of Kerson 

 and Podolia. In 1870 the yield was 965,250 gallons of wine, and, accord- 

 ing to official data, in 1879 Bessarabia alone produced 18,756,000 gallons. 

 The wines are generally light, the red varieties resembling the French, 

 the white the Rhine wines. The wines produced in Bessarabia from 

 French and Rhenish vines are known in trade as Bordeaux, Burgundy, 

 Rhinewine, Sauterne, etc., the label indicating also the district in which 

 the wine was grown. The best known are the Ackermann, the Odessa, 

 and those of the Bulgarian colony. The majority of the grape-growers 

 sell young and unfermented wines to dealers, and in the whole district 

 but six wine-growers made and sold a finished wine under their own 

 names. 



2. In the Crimea grapes are cultivated throughout the whole Taurida 

 peninsula, but only four districts are of importance, viz, Yalta, JTiipa- 

 toria, Simferopol, and Feodosia. 



Compared with the rest of Russia, grape culture has attained its 

 greatest perfection in the Crimea. The newest methods are adopted, 

 and relatively a large number of vine-growers, particularly those on the 

 southern shores, make and sell their own wine under their own names 

 in St. Petersburg and Moscow. 



The Government has paid the greatest attention to grape culture in 

 the Crimea. In 1812 the Imperial Nikita garden was laid out on the 

 southern shores in the vicinity of Yalta; and in 1828 the Margaratsch 



