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whose opinions can be relied upon. During his recent visit 
here, he not only purchased large quantities of wine, but 
also invested a considerable sum of money in buying a vine- 
yard in one of the northern parts of the colony. As a 
temperance man, not a teetotaller, I would like to see much 
more wine consumed and less ardent spirits; the former would, I 
am convinced, tend to reduce drunkenness, and, consequently, the 
misery caused—every facility should be atforded by the State to 
the wine-grower and the wine-seller. France drinks 30 gallons 
of wine each per annum; we hardly a gallon. There it means 
£40,000,000 per annum, giving employment to two or three million 
persons. California yields 20,000,000 gallons of wine annually, 
Victoria only 2,000,000 gallons. I know that we are now making 
fair progress in the direction of vine planting, but we have a 
lot of leeway to make up to get abreast of California—a country 
whose wines are generally much inferior to those produced here. 
SaucEs AND PICKLES. 
What is there to prevent our making nearly all these within 
our own borders. Why should we import yearly nearly £20,000 
worth of these articles? It seems to me a reflection on our 
enterprise that we do not, with perhaps a few exceptions, 
manufacture everything needed in this line. 
CIDER. 
From sauces to cider is a jump, but often on reading the 
market reports, and when I saw the price of apples quoted so low, 
I have wondered the growers did not make them into cider. Nearly 
every year, just at mid-season, when they are most plentiful, we 
are told that, with the exception of the very best fruit, apples do 
not pay to send to market, they are given to pigs and cows; but 
frequently I have seen them lie rotting on the ground, not paying 
to pick up. The quantity of cider imported into the colony is so 
small as hardly worth mentioning, but I am quite convinced that 
in apple districts it would pay well for one or more persons to 
start the manufacturing of this most wholesome and refreshing 
beverage; there are plenty of west country people who would be 
only too glad to have the opportunity of indulging in what may 
be termed their native liquor. I am well aware that to make 
first-class cider, apples of any description will not do, special 
varieties are required; at the same time, a very good wholesome 
drink can be made from the gleanings of a general orchard. 
Farm SEEDS. 
We import annually from £30,000 to £40,000 worth of seeds 
of various kinds, a good portion of which is grass, clover, and 
canary seed. The latter seems to have gone out of cultivation 
