144 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



[1871 



remain behind in the march of progress without 

 injury to himself, now that the air method finds 

 adoption in Europe and America, revohitioniziiig 

 the industries in which it is most serviceable. The 

 merits of the air-treatment will be fully apprecia- 

 ted in all localities by actual workiru/ tests. 



To i/imte these tests, the patentee proposes to as- 

 sign tlie perpetual right for 3,000 gallons of wine 

 annually, free of charge, to the first person in such 

 unsold county, tliat adopts this recognized process. 

 It is time that air should be economized as the 

 mother of all organism, the result of its action no- 

 ted and intelligently employed. 



To demonstrate the practiciibility and economy 

 of air-treatment in the manufacture of wine, the 

 writer has on exhibition at this Fair, for premiums 

 and sale, several varieties of dry and sweet wines, 

 made from grapes that were hanging on the vines 

 from the 15th of August to the 15th of September. 



The Vintage of Sn^ltzerland. 



From an interesting letter from Rev. J. L. Corn- 

 ing to the Independent, written at Vevay some time 

 since, the following extracts are made : 



One per cent, of all the land of Switzerland is 

 devoted to the culture of the vine, and you will sec 

 that this is a large proportion when you consider 

 that thirty-one per cent, of its area is uncultivated. 

 This little Canton of Vaud, in the midst of which 

 we have taken quarters, has an area of one hundred 

 and thirty-eight square leagues, and a population 

 of something over two hundred thousand souls. 

 Here are sixteen thousand acres of vines, produc- 

 ing, according to the latest report, over thirteen 

 million gallons of wine annually. The annual 

 money product of the vine culture of the whole 

 country is estimated at thirty million francs. This 

 is a great business for a commonwealth of such 

 small dimensions ; and yet France produces seven- 

 teen and a half million hogsheads of wine every 

 year, Austria over fourteen million, Spain nearly 

 nine million, and Italy over two million. 



I am no agriculturist ; but I have learned on the 

 Rhine, the Neckar, the Elbe, and the lakes of 

 Switzerland, a few things about successful grape- 

 culture. Vineyards thrive best on hill slopes, and 

 need a soil underlaid with rock, so as to retain lieat 

 during the night. The lay of the land and the 

 quality of the soil here in Switzerland are well 

 suited to a rich vintage. 



At the present writing the most delicious white 

 grapes that were ever eaten are selling on the mar- 

 ket in Vevay for four cents a pound. A month ago, 

 at the beginning of the grape season, the price was 

 ten cents; but we are now in the very height of the 

 vintage, and clusters which in America are cultiva- 

 ted under glass and bring a dollar or more per 



pound, are here a drug, of which one may get a 

 surfeit for next to nothing. 



I can take your arm, kind reader, and in half an 

 hour show you the whole story of the grape, from 

 the vine to the bottle. 



The vineyards here are all enclosed in high walls 

 of solid masonry, and entered by narrow gates, 

 which are always under lock and key. Now, in 

 the vintage time, however, the gates are all open, 

 and anybody may walk in at pleasure. You see, 

 on entering, that the vinej'ard bears a stronger 

 resemblance to a corn field than to any other piece 

 of agriculture which we are familiar with, except- 

 ing perhaps a raspberry patch. Each vine stands 

 all alone by itself, supported by a stick driven into 

 the ground, and the average height of each is not 

 more than three and a half to four feet. On count- 

 ing the clusters at random, as we walk through the 

 furrows, we find that each vine-stock produces from 

 six to ten clusters ; perhaps eight is the average. 



The grand harvest season is limited to a few 

 days; and you see here, as our eyes sweep over 

 these green and redolent acres, that all the available 

 force of the country is out. The women carry bas- 

 kets and knives, and pluck the vines bare, while 

 the men carry great tubs strapped to their backs, 

 which they set down in the furrows, and receiving 

 the clusters in these, they poke and punch and 

 pound them with long clubs; and as each tub is 

 filled with pulp, it is carried to the vineyard wall 

 and emptied into huge hogsheads. So goes the 

 work on all day long — plucking, pounding and 

 dumping ; and at nightfall you will see long pro- 

 cessions of carts winding through the narrow 

 streets and lanes, down the hill-slopes, to the town, 

 where the cellars and the presses are. A curious 

 train, indeed — all kinds of vehicles, and all kinds 

 of quadrupeds before them — horses and mules, 

 oxen and cows, harnessed to the foaming pulp, and 

 dragging it every whither to be civilized. Let us 

 follow one of these processions to the cellar. Here 

 a great trough conducts from daylight down into 

 subterranean vats ; and into this the seething con- 

 tents of the hogsheads is emptied, and gurgles down 

 to a receptacle, whence it is allowed to drip for a 

 while, till all the juice which it will spontaneously 

 discharge is taken away. Then the residuum of 

 pulp, rinds and stems is shoveled into a machine 

 which resembles an old-fashioned cider press; the 

 screws are put on, manipulated with a great hand- 

 lever, and the result is, as to the dripping tubs, 

 gallons of new wine, and as to the press, an im- 

 mense cheese of fiber, which is good for nothing 

 but to cut into cakes, and utilized as fuel. 



In the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 

 many young ladies are being instructed in horticul- 

 ture. 



