1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER, 



551 



Delivan, Dr. HoUarid, and others, is quoted at 

 length, all of whom saw enough to satisfy them 

 that wine is the direct and immediate cause of 

 drunkenness, and not of temperance. The result 

 of the observation of these travellers may be ex- 

 "pressed in the words of Dr. Holland : — 



" failing to find the solution of the temperance 

 question in the Maine law, failing to perceive it in 

 the various modes and movements of reform, I, 

 with many others, have looked with hope to tind 

 it iu a cheap and comparatively harmless wine; 

 but, for one, I can look in that direction hopefully 

 no longer. It is the testimony of the best men in 

 Switzerland — those who have tiie highest good of 

 the people at heart — that the increased growth of 

 the grape has been steadily and correspondingly 

 attended ])y the increase of drunkenness. They 

 lament the planting of a new vineyard as we, at 

 home, regret the opening of a new grog-shop." 



But admitting that the experiment has not worked 

 well iu wine producing countries of Europe and 

 Asia, it IS asked is this conclusive evidence that it 

 will not work well in this countrj% where the cli- 

 mate and haljits of the people are ditferent and 

 wliere the use of stronger liquors is common ? 

 This question is met full}' and squarely by the 

 writer of this paper. 



The Rev. Dr. Stone, late of Boston, is quoted as 

 saying, at a convention at San Francisco : — 



" I had entertained a sort of hope that the manu- 

 fticture of pure wines and their introduction into 

 general use, would crowd out the gross strong li- 

 quors, and diminish intemperance. I am fully con- 

 vinced that this hope was groundless and delusive. 

 * * It appears that in the wine growing districts, 

 intemperance is on the increase, extending even to 

 the youth of botU sexes." 



After having travelled extensively through Cali- 

 fornia, the editor of the Pacific, a newspaper of 

 high character, published at San Francisco, says : — 



"But through some parts of these mountains, as 

 well as in the valleys, there is arising a species of 

 production fraught with dire evil to the producers 

 and the country ; it is that of wine-making. Al- 

 ready wine has Ijccome as cheap as milk, and is as 

 freely drank, till many once sober men, are grow- 

 ing iiabitiiLilly intoxicated. In one wine-growing 

 neighborhood we arc told that young girls, seven- 

 teen years of age, reeled through the streets under 

 the Intoxication of pure California wine. Men 

 once of worth, now are, through wine, lost to so- 

 ciety, and becoming a fear and disgrace to their 

 families. One leading man enumerated to us five 

 of his acquaintances who, once noble men, are now 

 to be called drunkards, through wine. The pro- 

 duction of this article, now fearfully on the in- 

 crease, must prove a curse to the whole laud if per- 

 severed in." 



W. N. Mills, Esq., a gentleman personally known 

 to the writer of this paper, and the editor of the 

 Rescue, a paper published at Sacramento, says : — 



''There are a irreat many people who make the 

 argument that wine drinking will prove a cure for 

 the vice of drunkenness, and thej' talk with such 

 seriousness, that we are almost compelled to be- 

 lieve them honest in the doctrine they enunciate. 

 But we would ask them to note this : — That every 

 vineyard in the State is a drunkery ; that men who a 

 few years ago, perhaps were strenuous temperance 

 people, or a\ least abstained from drink, are now, 

 that they have wine producing vineyards, rapidly 



becoming drunkards, and that Los Angelos and 

 Sonoma counties especially, and the other wine 

 producing countries proportionably, are noted for 

 the extenl of this vice, just in proportion to the 

 numljer of gallons of wine they produce. These 

 are the facts of the case as we know them from 

 personal observation." 



After listening to the reading of this paper, and 

 after some remarks by Gov. Fairchild, who hap- 

 pened to be present, and by other gentlemen, none 

 of whom would discourage the cultivation of the 

 fruit for the table or for preserving, the following 

 resolution was adopted by the Wisconsin Horticul- 

 tural Society : — 



Resolved, That we, as a society, fully endorse 

 the statement of the address, to which we have 

 just listened : and that we hereby instruct our com- 

 mittee, who have our premium list under considera- 

 tion, to otter no premiums for wines. 



If, then, the late frosts of spring and the early 

 ones of fall nip our vines, and our teeth are set on 

 edge by the sourness of our fruit, let us modify our 

 disappointment by the reflection that the youth of 

 New England are exempt from the temptations 

 which beset those of wine producing countries. 



For the New England Fan-mer. 

 THE GARDEN IN OCTOBER. 



"The morning finds the self sequeBtfred man 

 Fret-h for his task, intend what task he may." 

 ' 'Ilf-nee suramer ha^ her riches, autumn hence. 

 And hence e'en winter fills his witlior'd hand 

 With blushing fruits, and plenty not bis own." 



Garden ! What is a garden ? Enough for 

 our purpose is it to say it is a space of land 

 devoted to the culture of vegetables, fruits, 

 herbs, flowers, «&'•. ; and sorry is the farm, far- 

 mer and his family, devoid of a garden. It 

 is as necessary that a farmer should under- 

 stand horticulture, or gardening, as it is that 

 he should understand husbandry — rearing ani- 

 mals, cultivation of the cereals and grasses, 

 and their preparation to becsame fit food for 

 man and beast. ]\Iany are too apt to think 

 that there is something mysterious in garden- 

 ing ; that in order to success, one must either 

 be a professional horticulturist or hire those 

 who make it a profession, too many of whom 

 prove mere botches, doing more injury than 

 good, at an exorbitant salary. There is no 

 better school for the agriculturist than the 

 garden ; for gardening is only the science of 

 agriculture reduced to its finest and most deli- 

 cate state. In it we have to remember that 

 the finer the production, the more care and 

 skill should be bestowed upon it ; that all our 

 finest and most succulent plants and vegeta- 

 bles are in an abnormal, unnatural state — the 

 result of high cultivation ; and can only be ex- 

 pected to hold their own or improve by con- 

 tinued high culture, care and skill. In the ag- 

 gregate, large amounts are paid for new vari- 

 eties of seeds, plants and novelties, from year 

 to year, and yet after a short season of cul- 

 ture — or non- culture — they become no bet- 

 ter than the old sorts we have discard* 



