200 



ON VINEYARDS. 



Hence it will appear that the introduction of 

 vineyards into this country would have no bad 

 effect respecting agriculture, because all strong 

 and deep lands which are best adapted for tillage, 

 are the most unsuitable for vines. 



Permit me to add, that, besides gentle declivities 

 and light soils, such as are proper for vineyards h , 

 Vines grow in situations and soils where the lands 

 could hardly be rendered profitable any other way. 

 And thus, though the Vines would not grow robust 

 on steeps of poor gravelly and rocky soils, still 

 they would be more prolific than Vines planted on 



" At Malaga, the great mart of wine and fruit, the north 

 and east approach is hemmed in by mountains ; these present, 

 from the town, a most barren and unpromising prospect, their 

 tops being immensely high. It is in these iron-looking 

 mountains, and among these peeled (i. e. bald) rocks, where 

 there is no appearance of soil or earth, that grow annually so 

 many thousand ton of exquisite wine, and astonishing quantity 

 of Moscatel raisins." Carters Journey from Gibraltar to Malaga, 

 11. p. 387. 



h Although it be not difficult to determine what soil is 

 properly adapted to promote the growth of the Vine from its 

 external appearance, yet there is something in respect of its 

 nature, so deeply hidden from us and unknown, as not to be 

 developed but by the quality of the wine. 



I have been informed, that the rich Hungarian wine, so 

 universally esteemed for its peculiar flavour, is made only in 

 a very small district near Tokay ; and that the adjoining vine- 

 yards, where both soil and situation are apparently the same, 

 and although planted with the same kind of grape, produce a 

 wine not only much inferior in its quality and excellence, but 

 also very dissimilar in its colour and appearance. v 



