434 



VINE CULTURE AND THE GllAPE. 



The following shows the exports of ordinary Cape wines : — 





Oallons. 





Oallons. 











1858 .. 



802,748 

 . .. 1,094,542 



1867 



71 268 



1859 .. 



1868 , 



84,569 



1860 . . 



551,787 



1869 



130,966 



1861 



, .. 317,085 

 225,097 



1870 



88,533 



1862 . . 





61,689 



1863 



319,146 







1864 , , 



175,601 



1873 , , 



75,199 



1865 .. 



, ,, 192,869 



1874 , . . 



77,802 



Australia. — If there is one fruit more than another which luxuriates 

 in the sunny clime of Australia, it is the gi-ape. According to 

 statistics there were more than 17,000 acres under culture there 

 with the vine, distributed as follows : 







Year. 



Acres. 









1874 

 1872 

 1874 

 1871 

 1874 



5,222 

 4,526 



376 

 6,181 



775 







Total 





17,030 



* 





The wine produced by these is, in Victoria, about 714,000 gallons ; 

 New South Wales, 500,000 gallons ; South Australia, 800,000 gallons. 

 This is exclusive of the brandy distilled and about 10,000 tons of 

 grapes sold. 



The cultivation of the vine in Australia does not seem to have 

 increased in the last few years, although a larger quantity of wine 

 is made, the vines having become more productive. In the three 

 principal wine-making colonies, New South Wales, Victoria, and 

 South Australia, there were only 14,600 acres in 1875-6, but the 

 production of wine is now more than 2,000,000 gallons against 

 1,800,000 in 1870. Almost all the wine is consumed in the colony 

 where it is made, the exj)ort from the three colonies in the last re- 

 corded year having been only 80,000 gallons. The local consump- 

 tion of European wines shows little diminution, and is still more 

 than half a million gallons in those colonies. 



South Australia may now be regarded as one of the wine-producing 

 countries of the world. There the vineyards average for forty miles 

 round Adelaide, at least 30 ^cres each ; some exceeding 1000 acres 

 and many attaining to 60. The whole of the country about the 

 capital seems formed to be the home of those vines, which nature has 

 destined to produce strong generous, full-bodied wines. If as much 

 well-directed care and attention were bestowed on studying the true 

 nature and capabilities of the must, as seems to have been expended 

 on striving to force it to yield wines of a French or German character, 

 the produce of South Australia would, ere now, have acquired even a 

 better name than it enjoys. 



