Xll 



The compilation of such a work is not so easy a task as might at 

 first sight be supposed. The colony of Victoria embraces every 

 description of climate, from Alpine to semi-tropical, or, in other 

 words, every climate in which the vine can be profitably cultivated. 

 To write a book which it is intended should teach people in 

 different circumstances and who must therefore necessarily adopt 

 different cultural methods is on this account, in order to avoid 

 confusion, a task requiring great care. In the following pages every 

 endeavour has been made to point out what influence the surrounding 

 circumstances have on the vine, and in what way the different 

 vineyard operations should be altered in consequence. This is the 

 reason why the three first chapters constitute a sort of introduction, 

 a thorough comprehension of which will render the remainder of the 

 work far more intelligible. These first chapters consist chiefly of 

 theoretical considerations, which may be but of small interest to many 

 practical* farmers. As such, they have been made as independent 

 as possible of the rest of the work, in order that practical men 

 may, if they so choose, pass them over and proceed at once to 

 the practical part, in which scientific terms and formulas have been 

 avoided as much as possible, in order to render it readily intelligible 

 to all. 



It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the advantages to be derived 

 from the cultivation of the vine. They are evident to any one who 

 considers the subject, and this work is intended rather to give 

 information to those who have already decided to plant than to 

 persuade those who have not. 



The cultivation of the vine differs essentially from that of most 

 other plants. Wine does not, like many agricultural products, 

 command a more or less fixed price, varying only with the condition 

 of the market. It varies enormously in value. Without taking 

 into consideration badly-made wine, which may be considered as 

 worthless, we shall often find sound wines of the same age one of 



