510 Transactions of the American Institute. 



wine drank in New York in six weeks than there is actually imported 

 in six months. 



Prof. H. E. Colton — Mr. Chairman, there is, no doubt, too much 

 fault in the American wines themselves, but the great fault is in the 

 American people. They won't buy a wine with an American label. 

 They want something with a French or German label. The truth is, 

 too many Americans buy the label on the bottle, not the wine inside. 

 They are generally poor judges of the quality of the latter, and if 

 the former is a name which Europeans, especially Frenchmen, praise 

 as an excellent brand, why they buy it. The trouble is, few men are 

 judges of wine who ever touch any other liquor, and most Americans, 

 who drink at all, do not confine themselves to wines alone. The 

 tastes of our drinkers generally are vitiated by whiskys, gins, and 

 rums. These facts are well known by the wine men ; therefore, they 

 buy native wines and grape juice, work them up a little, bottle them, 

 and label as foreign wines. Somebody says " Scuppernong." "Well, 

 jes, even that much-abused grape. A friend of mine had a large 

 quantity he could not sell to any one for use as Scuppernong wine, but 

 at last he sold it to a dealer, and that dealer bottled it, and resold it ; 

 some as champagne, and some as Rhine wine. The same state of 

 facts exists as to many of the California, Ohio, and other native wines. 



At the same time, I know that these native wines might be vastly 

 improved by care in manufacture and age, but the small manufacturer 

 cannot afford to do this, and the large maker has no inducement, as 

 he can sell and realize without all that trouble and loss of interest. 

 Here comes in again another cause — the thirst of all our people for 

 getting rich rapidly, and the high price of labor, and the greater 

 interest value of money in this country. There are a few gentlemen 

 who have means and the patience to wait, and these are now making 

 and storing up wines. From them will eventually be bought wine 

 as good as any in the world. 



Mrs. J. H. Barlow — I was, not long since, traveling over the rail- 

 road from Wilmington, N. C, to Florence, S. C, and a number of my 

 friends were talking of the poor land when we stopped at a depot. 

 In a few seconds a number of little boys were on board the cars sell- 

 ing wine. My friends bought a number of bottles, and pronounced 

 it excellent. On inquiry I learned that it was made by a German who 

 had settled out there, and that he believed it to be a good wine 

 country, and was making money by selling his wine. 



