•313 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Januaky 20 . 
Crimean Wines. —“Our civil landlord (at Katfa) 
placed before us a good German dinner. 1 luul licard 
so much of Crimean wines, tliat I was curious to become 
acquainted witli tlicm in tlie noiglibourliood of the sjiot 
where tlicy wore prepared. “ What wine do tiic gentle¬ 
men require ?” was the rejily of our host to our demand. 
“Will you liavo Eorster, Tramincr, Johannisberger, or 
Leistenwein? Or are you, perhaps, less patriotic in 
your tastes, and ])rcfer the wine produced from the 
French, Spanish, or Capo vines? 1 should then recom¬ 
mend a conntly Dordeanx of the first quality !” “ We 
have no wish ibr foreign wines, my dear countryman, 
but for those of the Crimea,” wo replied. “ I see, 
gentlemen,” returned our host, “ that it is your first visit 
to the Crimea ; for yon would otherwise have been aware 
that all the wines 1 have juoffored to yon arc prejiarcd 
from grapes which ripen here. 'J'he proprietors ol' our 
vineyards have procured the best vines at great expense 
from every country, even from America; but they con¬ 
tinue to call the wine after the original vine which has 
supplied the grapes. For instance, my Rhine wine is 
not jireparcd on the Rhine, but on the southern coast 
here; and ns i before said, only from the graiie which 
was brought from the Rhine. As the estates of Count 
Worouzolf (he was not then Prince) produce the best 
wine, all that is good also obtains the name of ‘ conntly,’ 
even if not produced on the Count’s vineyards.” Thus 
enlightened, we drank in succession those which had the 
highest reputation — Johannisberger, Steinwein, St. 
Julien, Champagne, IMadeira, Cape wine, and found that 
some of them wore by no means bad, especially to those 
whose tastes were not rendered fastidious after a con¬ 
siderable residence in Asia; hut yet they had not the 
slightest resemblance to the varieties whose names they 
bore. 'J'he only thing in common w'as the price ; since 
for the sum of two rouble assignats (about two shillings) 
the wines were not even moderately good. We jiaid one 
silver rouble and more (therefore above three shillings) 
for wines of a somewhat better quality. 
“ The enhivation of the vino is a favourite occupation 
of different families resident here, and an onornions ex¬ 
pense to the state, no less than to private individuals. 
About four hnndred different kinds of vine are cultivated 
in this sjiot. The whole of Europe, as far as Lisbon, 
jMadeira, South Africa, Asia from Titlis to Shiraz, and 
even North America, were placed under contribution in 
order to siqqily the best among their vines for the 
southern coast of the Crimea. No expense has been 
sjiared to obtain a celebrated vine, even from the re¬ 
motest corner of the globe. Rut these varieties all more 
or less lose their peculiar merits on the Crimean soil, and 
retain nothing but the name. 1 thought that 1 recog¬ 
nized the foliage of the early Wiirzhurger, the Rhenish 
Ries.sling, tho Tramincr of the Palatinate, and the 
favourite Bordeaux, iVc., but not the grapes, and still less 
the wine prepared from them, d'wo American kinds, 
known in Germany by the names of Catawba and 
Isabella, and there chiefly cultivated for their beautiful 
foliage, had also remained unchanged, both in form and 
flavour, at least so it a])pcared to me, compared with 
ours of the same sort in Germany; but whether they 
differ from those in North America is another question. 
In tasting tho grapes, I observed that in all the Crimean 
vines, with but few exceptions, they have a thicker and 
more astringent skin. 
“ ]\Ir. von Hartwiss gave us an opportunity of becoming 
better acquainted with the difl'erent kinds of wine pre¬ 
pared in the Crimea. I am not myself a suliicient con¬ 
noisseur to pronounce judgment, but, in tho opinion of 
those who aro exjiericncod in such matters, tho profit is 
not in the least ])ro[)ortionato to what is expended. I 
have had occasion to speak before of the high price of 
tho Crimean wine. In ()de.ssa, by-thc-by, a free port. 
wine. 
and admitting for 
reign wines with a very moderate dutj'. 
good Crimean Bordeaux always costs more than equally 
good genuine French wine of the same sort. On this 
account it is only ordinary and inferior kinds that are 
exported there, tliough they have also jnojiortionately 
high prices; and the best vines arc only drunk in fami¬ 
lies where the vino is cultivated on their own estates, or 
by those who place them on their table from patriotic 
motives. 
“'The Crimean Rhine wine had lost its aroma with its 
acid, and, in like manner, I missed the astringent taste of 
tho Bordeaux. On the other hand, such excellent wines 
were jiresented to me in Nikita, and still more in Maga 
ratch, by Prince F. B. Galitzin, that they would have 
met with oiqiroval from the most experienced wine- 
drinkers. We were, however, told that the preparation 
of this quality of wine demands such exlremc care, that 
it is impossible to trade in it, for it would either he given 
aw'ay at enormous loss, or would have immense prices 
attached to it.”— (Koch's Odessa (oul ihe Ch'iviea.) 
I ARTICLES OF PEACE BETWEEN THE 
i FLOWER - GARDENER AND FLORIST — 
i DIELYTRA SPEC'TA 131L1S SEEDIJNGS. 
No matter how the weather may turn out at the time, 
every gardener must look out for and collect certain 
and uncertain things to make a compost with a long time 
before that conqiost is needed ; and that is the only 
point, as far as I can recollect, upon which the dilferen't 
branches of the craft agree by common consent. Whetlier 
they act on the agreement is another question. Some 
do, and some do not, and some forget occasionally to do 
as they would. On all other points in gardening we 
are Russians, or 'Turks, or downright Chartists. Whigs 
and Tories may agree, and so may Alexander and the 
Allies; but on the points of tho Gardener’s garter, or 
charter,—which you will,—I fear we shall never agree. 
No matter into how good society we gain admission, 
what patronage we receive, or what future ]»rospects 
may hold forth, all our branches, unfortunately, the 
fancy ones in particular, only represent so many Alton 
Lockes, who must, as of necessity, turn back upon our 
“points” and “properties;” each party insisting on 
each point to the last farthing or farthing’s worth, 
through thick and thin skins and “ middliiigs,” thus 
allowing reason and reserve to be off to the “ peace 
preliminaries.” But no two branches of the old tree 
aro more ojiposed, on principle and in practice, than 
those rejn'esented by the florist and flower-gardener. 
'The latter holds out, as the best jioints or properties in 
a flower, that it should be of the most brilliant colour, 
that that colour could not be washed out bv rain, or 
bleached out by rain and sun—a fast colour^ in fact; 
these aro the jirime points with the flower-gardener, and 
all other points are lower down on the scale of excel¬ 
lence. With the florist, on tho contrary, the shape of 
the flower takes tho first turn, and, compared with the 
shape, colour is a mere nothing; a foxy-brown is just 
as good as crimson or scarlet, as wo have seen lately 
among Chrysanthemums and Fompones; and as for 
the brown-foxy being a fasfcolour, that is the last tiling 
which troubles tho florist, or that he thinks about; and 
then he screens the flower from sun and rain with tins or 
that shade, or tent, till all is over. 'The crimson mav 
turn scarlet, the scarlet to crimson, and both bo as 
“ fast” as a rock in the flower-garden, and yet the ]>lant 
be useless, or next to useless, for the short time it holds 
in bloom. Duration must, therefore, be the next best 
jioint in a flower-garden plant—not a bit of it; sub¬ 
stance is our fourth point; it is also an essential point 
with tho florist; and w'e both agree in having substance 
in the petals, and substance in the footstalks, to hold up 
