46 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 20. 
the sun to bask itself and get warm, which it seemed to 
enjoy. 
I washed its head on the seventh day, for the last time, 
the inflammation being allayed, digestion progressing 
favourably, and the bird being able to stand and look about, 
apparently concerned about its appetite beiug satisfied. 
The last three days 7th, 8th, and fith of treatment, I 
have fed it grain, coarse bread, and green food, being 
careful not to allow it to gorge itself, for its appetite was 
quite recovered, but the bird weak, so 1 gave it three pieces of 
bread, about the size of marbles, soaked in brandy; and it 
is now after ten days, may I say, judicious ? care able to 
take care of itselt in the yard with the rest of the poultry. 
If you consider the above “ rough and ready cure " worthy 
of insertion in the columns of your valuable Journal, please 
to insert it; it may prove useful to persons buying birds 
under similar circumstances. I never gave the bird any ex¬ 
traordinary care, having merely kept it in a basket, on a 
little dry straw, in a shed, during the first two or three days, 
and left it to shift for itself in the fowl-yard as soon as it 
was able to stand, taking it up when I wished to administer 
the doses and cold baths. I noticed, that as soon as it was i 
_ able it veered round opposite the sun in the yard, proving I 
that the heat was agreeable to it. There were no other 
male birds in the yard to annoy or punish it in any way, so \ 
as to counteract any good effects which might arise from 1 
the rough treatment it was being subjected to.— Ajixcus, 
Jersey. 
HUNTER RIVER VINEYARD ASSOCIATION. 
Thk following are extracts Trom the presidential address 
delivered by Mr. Xing, of Irrawang, at tho annual meeting 
of the Hunter River Vineyard Association (Australia), held 
on 4th of May. 
“ There can be no question whatever that the objects 
of this our original association will be eagerly sought 
after, and promoted, with ardour and ability, by future 
generations, when the digging for gold in this country has 
long ceased, and the pres.ent richness of its mines will 
only be known in its then early history. The various 
locations of land on the livers of New South IVales and | 
their tributaries, and hence inwards to tho far interior, were 
j originally taken up and occupied with reference to those 
i pastoral pursuits for which the country is naturally so well 
j suited, and which have hitherto been so successfully carried 
on. These locations were consequently far apart; and 
when some of the more intelligent and enterprising pro¬ 
prietors began to cultivate the grape vine and become, 
growers of wine in addition to their other occupations, their 
extreme distance from each other prevented that personal 
intercourse, that interchange of ideas, and knowledge of 
each other’s process in the new culture, which are so 
desirable in promoting a favourable result. 
“ This drawback, however, was partially obviated by the 
few vine cultivators making occasional visits to each other’s 
vineyards. But this was not always convenient or agreeable, 
ever involving time, labour, and expense. It was con¬ 
sequently suggested by one of the present members of this 
association that the wine growers in the district should 
meet on stated periods, at some point of mutual convenience, 
for the purpose of comparing samples of their respective 
wines, and of submitting written statements of their vintage 
operations to tho meetings. 
“A preliminary meeting with that view was accordingly 
held in Maitland, when a committee was formed to draw 
out a code of rules and regulations, by virtue of which the 
first meeting constituting this association was held at Mait¬ 
land, in May, 1847. Half-yearly meetings have been held 
ever since, till the meeting in May last year. Hence the 
origin and objects of our existing association. 
“ In May this time twelve months, however, it was con¬ 
sidered that its meetings were rather too frequent for some 
of the members to attend regularly without inconvenience. 
It was therefore proposed and agreed to that the society 
should in future only have a stated meeting once a year, 
and tliat in nil time eomiug a president should be annually 
elected, with prescribed duties. This office for the last 
year you all know I have had the honour to fill. 
“The association seems to have infused a spirit of emula¬ 
tion amongst its members, judging from the marked im¬ 
provement in the quality of their wines, some of them, in 
common with others, having consequently had gold medals 
awarded to them by the New South Wales Botanical and 
Horticultural Society, and the highest testimonials have 
been received from England in favour of the wines of 
Porphyry, a vineyard belonging to one of its members: 
whilst the publicity of its proceedings has tended to the 
advancement of vine culture in the colony, and to the 
bringing into more general use and favour the wholesome j 
product of our home vineyards. 
“ The wine growers in the older part of the colony soon 
saw the advantages of our local institution. They immedi¬ 
ately followed our example, and, adopting its model, formed 
themselves into “ the New South Wales Vineyard Associa¬ 
tion.’’ This association has taken a wider range of action, 
and has not restricted membership to growers of wine, or 
to cultivators at all. Nevertheless, it includes amongst its j 
members some of the most successful wine growers in the ] 
colony. 
“ Thus the culture of the vine is producing a valuable j 
commodity of commercial exchange, both as an article of 
domestic use, and of export; and the conviction of its 
importance as an appropriate agricultural pursuit in the 
colony is making rapid progress amongst us. 
“ The districts of the Hunter, and those of its tributaries, 
are well suited for vino culture, as evinced by the very 
satisfactory proofs which have been exhibited from time to 
time at the meetings of this association. The introduction 
of its culture, however, as a source of profit-, is of com¬ 
paratively recent occurrence, particularly in this locality; 
whilst many circumstances have, moreover, tended to retard 
its more general introduction. What, for instance, could be 
more unfavourable to the progress of wine culture than the 
fact, that the landed proprietors of the colony had emigrated 
from a country where no indigenous wines are grown, and 
were consequently not practically acquainted with the details 
of vine management, nor previously versed in the slightest 
degree in vintage operations; neither was it in their power 
to gather such information on the subject as had been 
verified by local experience. Still, with these and other 
drawbacks, it is gratifying to witness the progress that has 
been made by unassisted efforts at this early stage, in the 
production of wine in this district, as well as in the more 
early settled parts of the country; and it is to be hoped that 
•our exhibition to-day will further mark our onward tendency. 
With the experience already here acquired, and aided by a 
knowledge of the principles involved in the process of wine 
making, it is not saying too much to affirm that most of the | 
present wine growers in the colony are better qualified for , 
the right management of business here than any mere 
empirical practitioner of the art just arrived from Europe, 
however successful he may have been in his particular 
locality. There is no question, that when chemical processes 
in any position are carried on precisely under the same 
circumstances they must ever produce the same results ; at 
the same time it cannot be overlooked that the complex 
actions involved in the vital process of vegetation, and in 
the subsequent fermentation of its products, being ever 
subject to many subtle modifying influences, must cause 
marked varieties in the result. Even the slightest changes 
in condition, so minute as scarcely to be perceived, will 
cause appreciable differences. Hence the varied character 
discemable in wines, of which scarcely two individuals or 
two localities are found to produce the same or similar 
specimens. So far as the individuals are concerned, no 
doubt, that is caused mainly by a want of knowledge of the 
principles and circumstances which modify and influence 
chemical action, on which the production of the qualities of 
wine so much depends; and it is this want of familiarity 
with the principles involved In the chemical processes which 
so much retards the successful introduction of such processes 
into a new country. 
“ As bearing on the subject in hand, and throwing out 
valuable practical suggestions—suggestions which ought, in 
my humble opinion, to guide our future operations—with 
your kind permission, I will read two letters, which I have 
had the honour to receive since our last meeting, from that 
distinguished philosopher, Baron Liebig; who has done 
