235 
is only necessary to persevere in the course which has fortinataly been 
adopted. 
* [ take leave in this report to call the attention of landed proprietors 
in the epe tete to certain points in the management of their 
vines, and above manufacture of the wine itself. Speaking 
generally, I bete found ihe wines of the Cape possessed of qualities of 
a remarkable and even unique kind, which, ir they were known, wou 
-cause them te be appreciated all over the world. But, such as they 
are, that isto say, possessed of great alcoholic strength, they certainly 
are best fitted for consumption in the comparatively cold regions of 
Europe and America, nor does it seem to me impossible to cause ae 
to be appreciated at their true value in those countries. On the o 
hand, for places where the CEU d is somewhat high, and for pa 
"olony itself, the wines of the re far too heating. ey 
only be partaken o of in small quantities, and therefore are not sufficiently 
refreshing, The consequence is that er beverages are preferred, 
notwithstanding their high price and inferior intrinsic value. Cape 
wines could be prepared with a uniform strength of 11° to 12° only, 
instead of 18° to 22° as is now done, I doubt not that we should witness 
a rapid rise in the average consumption, and this would tend, as a 
natural result, to a considerable increase of the output, and give a very 
decided impulse to the colonial wine industry. 
uch a state of things is, I think, — attainable. It w 
necessary, in the first place, to compel the vines to carry a E heavier crop 
by allowing a greater length to the bearing choi or by 
the first to have stocks of a considerably greater height. Second m the 
gathering must take place earlier than is eme that is to say, a 
hen the grapes are less ripe or eve mewhat acid. ‘Thirdly, the 
fermenting house must be cooler, a beilo to be attained by con- 
: ‘all 
Fourthly, close fermentation, carried on in casks, not in open tubs, and 
. also apart from the husks, is essential. It is with satisfaction that I 
have mE these methods already in use at the mnes school at 
Constantia, ell as in several private establishments, a beginning 
which will e fruitful of good results. The samples of ds produetion 
which I have tasted incontestably prove the faeces of making in the 
Colony excellent wine of low a soiit. percentage. 
* It has also struck me a many see are not ery as 
ei as may reasonably be expected of them, having regard to the 
wth on the stocks and the depth of the soil, I think that under 
these circumstances a top-dressing of lime, in some form or other, with 
an addition of phosphates, would considerably augment the returns, 
At Robertson and Montagu, where the vines (on a calcareous soil) are 
fiiium upon the irte of he pee mission mete, has been 
con it wi 
Wo ain attention, and are found to of service to the highly 
important interests of colonial viticulture. ` : 
* F have, &c. 
* P, MOUILLEFERT." 
