INTRODUCTION. clxiii 



must be added before fermentation. Catawba &quot; must&quot; averages 86; Isabella, 72. This is the product 

 of the wine farmer who only makes &quot;still wines.&quot; 



Sparkling wines are made by the wine merchant or vintner, who purchases the new wine before 

 its second fermentation, fines and bottles it, and, by placing it in deep, arched sub-cellars, usually 

 twenty-five feet under ground, and letting it remain there from fifteen to eighteen months, is enabled 

 to prepare it for market, with the fermentating principle so subdued as not to endanger the bursting of 

 the bottle. Sirup of rock-candy is added to sweeten it, and sometimes a spoonful of brandy to each 

 bottle, to strengthen it. To make this wine right and profitably requires a large capital, and liberal 

 outlays in preparation. This showy and popular wine sells for about double the price of still wines. 

 The great art in making good wine is to have the grapes well ripened, and all unripe or imperfect 

 berries picked from the bunch before pressing. The press, casks, and vessels should be perfectly 

 clean. Then, with a good cellar, and the casks kept bung-full and tight, there is no danger. The 

 grapes are not stemmed, the tannin in the stems being useful in clearing the wine. 



To the foregoing views of Mr. Buchanan, we add the following statement of ex-Governor Downey, 

 of California, on the culture of the vine in that State : 



&quot; In the tier of counties extending south from Santa Cruz to the Mexican boundary the grain crop 

 is precarious, the seasons being uncertain, and the wheat subject to rust. Stock-raising and the culture 

 of the vine are the chief employment of the husbandman. The number of vines now bearing in this 

 State is about 4.500,000, and, if well attended, these will yield 4,500,000 gallons of wine; the capacity 

 of our State for this product is beyond conception. The counties of Los Angeles and San Bernardino 

 have now 2,000,000 vines; with increased supply of water for irrigation, they could be increased 

 to 30,000,000. The grape generally cultivated, and as yet the best adapted, is that introduced by the 

 Catholic missions. It is the same that is in general use in Spain, Madeira, and the Canary Islands, 

 from which springs Xercz, or Sherry, and Madeira, or Teneriffe, altered somewhat by the change of 

 climate and soil. There is less change in the process of wine making than in any other branch of 

 modern agriculture, the same old process used hundreds of years since being yet followed by many, 

 with as much advantage as by any modern innovation ; and it is as simple as by a cider-mill and press. 

 Our vines, up to the present, are free from disease. The average yield of a well-attended vineyard is 

 1,000 gallons to the acre, and the vine will bear vigorously until it reaches sixty years of age. One 

 hundred acres of vineyard can be planted, the ground prepared, and attended with as little cost as 

 the same extent of land planted in tobacco: deep ploughing once or twice, harrowing, and laying 

 off the rows six feet apart each way. The cuttings are about two feet long, planted with aid of a crow 

 bar, and from four to six inches lefl above the surface. The third year will produce, and at the age of 

 six years, produce profitably. The first year we irrigate frequently, in order to assist the rooting of 

 the vine, and thereafter once or twice annually, according to the soil or relative moisture. I am 

 induced to make these lengthy observations on the simplicity of vine culture from the fact that many 

 are led to believe, from the dissertations and reports of agricultural societies, that the work of planting 

 a vineyard on anything like a large scale must be a Herculean task. They suggest deep spading, 

 (three feet,) and various composts, and a thousand and one fertilizers as adjuncts, which may, in their 

 localities be necessary, but surely not in California, and it is very doubtful if they are in the vine region 

 on the Atlantic side of the continent. Our process of irrigating is a never-failing source of fertility ; 

 the salts and earthy matter held in partial solution in running streams, stimulate and enrich the soil, 

 and destroy, in a great measure, all insects and larvae. It is this natural irrigation of the valley of the 

 Nile that has made it yield its successive crops, from the remotest antiquity, without exhaustion. In 

 this connexion, I would suggest to our farmers and gardners in the older States, that, when practicable, 

 they should have one field at least that could be irrigated.&quot; 



