432 



VINE CULTURE AND THE GRAPE. 



The production of wine in 1874 was 7,000,000 gallons, besides the 

 quantity necessary for the distillation of 200,000 gallons of brandy, 

 viz. about 1,000,000 gallons of must ; 808,167 gallons of wine were 

 exported. The vineyard proprietors have begun to introduce French 

 and Germans, in order to improve the quality of their wine. 



The yield of the Californian vineyards for 1875 was about 

 8,000,000 gallons. The State has vinicultural land enough to make 

 as much wine as France, Germany, Hungary, and Spain combined 

 could produce ; and there is no shadow of doubt among those who 

 have given the subject the closest study, that California will in some 

 future time out-rank every other wine-growing region in the world. 

 The foot hills of this State, which are held at one-tenth the price of 

 land in France, have a vast productive capacity, and seldom fail to 

 produce a good crop. 



In the early days of California wine-making it was supposed that 

 in order to make a good wine grapes had to be over-ripe ; hence the 

 wines contained too much alcohol, and were too heavy for constant use. 

 Of late there has been much improvement in this respect, which has 

 been brought about by the introduction of European vines, having less 

 saccharine and more acidity than the California gi*ape. Producers 

 have also learned that it is better to pluck the grapes before they are 

 fully ripe than to await over-ripening. 



One firm (Kohler and Frohling) use yearly 5,000,000 lbs. of 

 grapes from Los Angelos vineyards, and purchase annually several 

 hundred thousand gallons of wine. In five years more it is antici- 

 pated 800,000 acres of barren hills, worthless for other purposes, 

 will be green with the vines, which love those sunny slopes so 

 well. 



In the vicinity of Coloma and the portion of El Dorado country 

 sheltered by the grand old mountains, nestling by the river, overgrown 

 with verdure, are more than two score vineyards, with hundreds of acres 

 of bearing vines. No disease has ever been known among vines in this 

 region, except perhaps a little mildew, but the frost and other meteoro- 

 logical influences sometimes injure crops. Mr. Eobert Chalmers, 

 in his Coloma vineyard has planted, on 110 acres, 110,000 bearing 

 vines, comprising over forty varieties of foreign grapes. He makes 

 from 6 to 10 tons of raisins yearly. It takes 3 tons of grapes to make 

 one of raisins. The raisin crop of California for 1876 was estimated 

 at 60,000 packages. The white Muscat grapes seem to take the lead, 

 the raisins selling for 10 cents a pound, while Malagas are only worth 

 8 cents. The Graingers shipped 500 boxes of the crop to China, 

 where they expect to open up a good market for a portion of the 

 California raisins. 



Mexico. — Vine culture and wine manufacture, although prosecuted 

 on but a small scale, have been very successful, especially in the 

 northern sections of Mexico. In many of the mountains of the Sierra 

 Madre, vines grow abundantly, and show to what degree of prosperity 

 this industry may reach when the producer can find his way to 

 foreign markets. 



Brazil. — The vine has been cultivated successfully of late in the 

 provinces of Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, and also in certain portions 



