66 CULTIVATION 



Still Catawba shows a per-centage of only 9.50-— 

 being in fact, the lowest proportion of spirit to be 

 found in any wine in the world! By the United 

 States census statistics of 1840, there were pro- 

 duced of domestic wine 124,734 gallons, and in 

 1850, 221,249 gallons. This estimate is doubtless 

 much less than the quantity actually produced, as 

 material inaccuracies in collecting our statistics, are 

 obvious to those who, like the writer, have been 

 employed in the compilation of its cumbrous 

 returns. The Commissioner of Patents estimates, 

 that for the year 1853, no less than two million 

 gallons was the produce of that year in the United 

 States, and its value about two million dollars. In 

 some parts of Massachusetts vineyards arc begin- 

 ning to be introduced for wine production, and 

 though not many vineyards are yet noticeable in 

 Connecticut, still some hundreds of gallons of wine 

 are now annually made, and chiefly from the Fox 

 grapes, which grow in a wild state so abundantly. 



FOREIGN VINEYARBS. 



It is a matter of serious interest to our nation, 

 that the vine throughout Europe, appears to be 

 entering upon its period of decline. The genius 

 and glory of the Old World are on the wane, and 

 will soon be eclipsed by our mighty fabric of free- 

 dom, and the generous vine, as if in sympathy with 

 its fond guardians, unclasps its tendrils, and with- 

 ers in the blight of empires! 



