MICHAUX'S TESTIMONY 



bo that I did not reach the vineyard until evening, 

 where I was very politely received by M. Dufour, who 

 directs the undertaking. Be invited me to sleep there, 

 and pass the following day with him, which I accep- 



,,m1 - Che spot which he has selected and cleared is 



situated on the river Kentucky, twenty miles from 

 Lexington. The soil is excellent, and the vines are 

 planted on a small hill, with a steep declivity, exposed 

 u> tn " south, and the base of whir}, is two hundred 

 -in the river." "Bui his success is nol equal 

 t<> his attention: not more than tour or five varieties 

 are left, among which are those which he calls by the 

 names of Burgundy and Madeira, and the first does 

 not thrive well: the fruit always rots before it arrives 

 .-it maturity. When I saw them, the bunches were 

 few and stinted, the -rap.-, small, and everything 

 appeared as though the vintage of the year 1802 

 would not be more abundanl than those of the pre- 

 ceding years. The Madeira vines, on the contrary, 

 seemed to U rj V( . 8ome hopes: of ,-, hundred and fifty. 

 or two hundred plants, about a third were loaded with 

 very fin.- grapes. These vines do not occupy a Bpace 

 of more than six acres; they an- planted and sup- 

 ported !.\ prop.. B8 j,, the environs of Paris. The 

 vicinity of the wood attracts a species of bird, whirl, 

 is verj destructive anion- them, and the nature of the 

 country is a great obstacle to getting freed fro,,, them. 

 Buch was thm tl„- situation of this establishment, in 

 which the proprietors took hut a slight interest, and 

 whirl, W as likelj to meet with another hinderance in 

 the division of M. Dufour's family, a part of which 

 on the point of quitting it to settle on the banks 



