PREFACE. 



The writer of the following pages had long 

 considered that few things could be of more ad- 

 vantage to the settlers of New South Wales, than 

 a knowledge of the agriculture and rural economy 

 of those European countries, whose climates are 

 most analogous to theirs. 



He accordingly embraced the opportunity, 

 aiforded by his late visit to Europe, to proceed 

 to the south of Spain, and through various parts 

 of France, in the hope that his observations 

 might be useful to the Colonists. His attention 

 was, in particular, directed to the culture of the 

 vine, and the management of its products — a 

 subject which, as most of our readers are aware, 

 was not altogether new to him. 



The degree of spirit with which the plantation 

 of vineyards had commenced in the colony. 



