THE TURKEYS OF HARMONY. 
43 
the globe can dispute with France this glorious title of country of 
the vine. Now because the vine is a holy plant, the game of the 
vine is the most exquisite of all; and because the vineyards of 
France, and the growths of Cote d’Or, of Champagne, Gironde, 
the Rhone, and the Adour are the first vineyards of the world, 
the game of France was also of a superfine aroma. The French 
grape communicates to the species that have once tasted of it, a 
juiciness of flesh and a superiority of flavor which, undeniably 
assign it the place of honor at the banquets of harmony. Cite 
me something here below that resembles the becafico of the vine — 
the becafico of the vine, that needs not to be fattened, like the 
lazy ortolan — the becafico, marvel of delicacy and succulence, and 
of which it has been said, that if it had the size of the turkey, no 
fortune in the world could pay for it. Poor gastrosophists of civ- 
ilized society, who do not know that the turkeys of Harmony will 
be at least three times as big as the present turkey, and that the 
sweetness of their flesh will attain, if it does not surpass, the deli' 
cacy of the present becaficos ! And that there will be immense 
Clos-Yougeots, and immense Clos-Lafittes expressly planted, with 
the most precious vines, to nourish the pheasants, the quails, and 
the thrushes ! For nothing approaches the becafico of the vine, 
unless it be the quail of the vine, the thrush, and the pheasant of 
the vine. The Romans, who were rather great eaters than great 
gastrosophists, had nevertheless recognized in their time the supe- 
riority of the thrush.'-^ 
‘‘ Inter aves turdus gloria prima.” — Martian. 
But the vine, as I have said, was a cardinal emblem of friend- 
ship ; consequently the vine was too nearly related to the earth not 
to have felt among the first the bad health of its planet. The 
vine, then, has been afflicted with its especial disease, like the 
wheat and the potato — like the oak — like man. Its small-pox, its 
caries, is the disorganization of its tissues by laceration ; it is the 
evil of late frosts. Now, as the most delicate and perfumed vines 
* Fie ! Mons, Toussenel, to comnieiid singing-birds, like the thrush, for the 
table. You will be calling next for a ragout of poets, or a roasted opera- 
singer. 
