THE CULTURE OF THE GEAPE. 185 



maintains that, provided it is porous, free, and light, its 

 component parts are of little consequence. 



" Where some peculiar strong-smelling substance ex- 

 ists in the soil, an odor is communicated to the wine 

 which renders it unpleasant. This is the case when 

 stinkstein (a variety of sub-carbonate of lime, called 

 pierre puante,) is present. Even wine tainted with this, 

 though at first repulsive, is ultimately relished. The 

 vine-growers of France and Portugal have so strong an 

 aversion to manuring the vines, from the notion that it 

 deteriorates the fl^iyor of the wine, that, in the latter 

 country, at least in the port-yielding district of the Alto 

 Douro, the use of manure is forbidden by law. This 

 seems to be a prejudice, for the German cultivators ma- 

 nure the vines very freely, and no wines are more es- 

 teemed for iouquet than those of the Rhine; and Brown- 

 er justifies the practice, not only with fresh cow dung, 

 but with pieces of woolen cloth steeped in liquid manure 

 and dried, which is found greatly to augment the pro- 

 duce. Professor Kau bears testimony to its utility. 

 Even the proprietors of the vineyards near Bourdeaux, 

 which produce the highly-prized clarets, employ manure 

 once every four or five years. But the same vines M'ill 

 yield a wine having very different qualities, at least as 

 to flavor and perfume, in different seasons. 



" The color of any wine is not dependent on the color 

 of the grape from which it is prepared. Champaigne is 

 the produce of a red grape. The coloring principle re- 

 sides entirely in the skin, except in the Tentilla, (the 

 French Teinturier, or I'Alicant,) which is entirely pens- 

 trated by the coloring principle." — Ibid, 



