52 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 17. 
[The result of sending the Bees to the Heath is very 
satisfactory, and we hope many will be induced, from this 
account, to follow the example another season. Chloroform 
seldom answers for stupefying Bees, the extreme care re¬ 
quired in using it is more than persons can generally bestow 
upon it. The hive which Mr. Payne now uses is eleven inches 
deep, and fourteen inches wide, measuring inside.] 
VINEYARDS IN AUSTRALIA. 
The following is a portion of the address delivered by 
Henry Carmichael, Esq., President of the “ Hunter River 
Association," on opening the proceedings at the annual 
meeting of the association held on Wednesday, the 3rd of 
May:— 
To induce the more extensive cultivation of the vine 
throughout the colony, the statement of a few statistical 
details may have influence. 
That wine of first-rate quality can he produced in this 
colony is now established. 
At one of the early meetings of this association, a sample 
of Cliambertin (a class of French wines of deserved esti¬ 
mation, known to have been preferred to all others by Louis 
XIV., and by Napoleon the Great) which had been imported 
into the colony by the respectable firm of Lyall, Scott, and 
Co., and which he had every reason to regard as genuine, 
was submitted for comparison before good judges of wine 
(not members of the association) with samples of corres¬ 
ponding wines, the product of Brandon and Irrawang Vine¬ 
yards. The resulting decision was, a preference of the 
colonial wine to the Cliambertin in some particulars—a 
preference of the Cliambertin to the colonial in others; and 
an unhesitating recognition by all of their close resemblance 
to one another in general character. 
At a meeting of the New South Wales Vineyard Association, 
a sample of French wine which had been sent for presentation 
to the Great Exhibition in London, and which, therefore, 
must have been esteemed by the French grower himself of 
superior quality, was brought into comparison with wines 
exhibited in Sydney. The result was a decided preference, 
by the judges, of a sample of colonial corresponding wine, 
the product of Camden Vineyard. 
A sample of red wine, the product of Porphyry Vineyard, 
forwarded from Sydney for the Great Exhibition in London, 
was tried at several parties at the Palace—being placed on 
the royal table without remark as to origin or history, and 
allowed to take its chance with other wines at the option 
of the guests; when it was deemed excellent by all parties, 
and preferred next after the best samples present. This 
wine was bottled when only 18 months old, at a time when 
it was pronounced, by judges in the colony, to be too new, 
and not to have its character fully developed. It had in it 
no admixture of alcohol, saving that arising from the fer¬ 
mentation of the must; it had been placed on the royal table 
immediately on its arrival from New South Wales, after the 
jumbling of a voyage from the antipodes. 
In one of those interesting communications which our 
respected President of last year had the privilege of receiving 
from Baron Liebig, we have it on the authority of that highly 
competent judge, that our colonial wines (said specially in 
reference to wines the product of Ii'rawang vineyard), in 
their contents of alcohol, and in fixed constituents, are not 
behind the best French and Rhenish wines; that the 
red Australian wine greatly resembles a mixture of Bur¬ 
gundy and claret which it surpasses in strength, and by 
careful management of the vintage and cellar operations 
may be brought to equal it in bouquet. 
A sample of Irrawang wine made from the Lambrusquat 
grape, the vintage of 1853, which I lately had the pleasure 
of tasting, and which, in all probability, we may have under 
our examination to-day, seemed to me superior to any wine 
which I had hitherto tasted from that vineyard, exhibiting, 
in my estimation, a decided proof of progress in our vintage 
proceedings. 
Only last week, it was my good fortune to taste, at the 
proprietor’s table, Brandon wine of the vintage 1843, a 
sample of the same wine as that which was, at our early 
meeting here, brought into comparison with Chambertin 
of France. Time, in my opinion, has added to its excellence, 
so that it would bear still more favourable comparison with 
Chambertin now. This is a sample of colonial wine which I ; 
have heard a gentleman of acknowleged taste in these 
matters declare, repeatedly, he would willingly procure for ! 
his use, if he could, at the cost of a guinea per bottle. 
The Hermitage wines of the Ivirkton vineyard, and some 
white wines from the vineyards of the Upper Paterson and 
Allyn, have commanded high approval at our past meetings ; 
and, generally speaking, we have had, from year to year, 
ever since the origination of our society, evidence of the | 
progressive improvement in the wines produced by the 
several members of the association. Every year’s increasing | 
experience is manifestly telling favourably on the products 
of our vineyards. 
Out of these particulars, it seems to me, we have grounds 
sufficient for declaring the production of superior wines in 
this colony tin fait accompli. In the onward progress of pur 
vineyard cultivation, therefore, I see no reason why this 
colony should not look forward to the possibility of coming 
into successful competition in the general market of the world 
with the most favoured of the wine countries in Europe. 
A consideration, too, which seems to be of some value as 
bearing on this result, arises out of the fact that the vines 
which we have been chiefly cultivating are those varieties I 
which have been imported from France and Germany; 
whereas otir climate bears a nearer similarity to that of 
Spain. The probability is, that had we cultivated, in the 
first .instance, cuttings from the vineyards [of Spain and 
Portugal, our success would have been more marked and 
more immediate. Although, from what quarter soever the | 
cuttings may come, the result of acclimitisalion, in the | 
course of time, must be the production of wines peculiar to j 
our own localities, and bearing the stamp of such value as j 
their intrinsic qualities shall command from competition 
among the tastes of mankind. The object pf the preceding j 
observations is simply to show cause that our experience 
hitherto affords us ground for rationally upholding the 
production of good wine in this colony to be no longer a 
thing problematical. 
(To be continued.) 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Coboea scandens, &c. ( Azile ).— It is a greenhouse climber, but 
flourishes out-of-doors during the summer months, flowers freely, and j 
even ripens seeds. It would be more plague than profit to try to protect ! 
it through the winter out-of-doors. Seeds should be sown in the spring 
months, in a hotbed, by which means good, strong plants may be ready 
to plant out for training on the open wall, or trellis, if required, by the 
middle or end of May. Carnations and Pansies are as hardy as almost 
any plants when in good condition, growing in the open ground, if they 
are kept free from weeds by continual attention to earth-stirring, and a 
little top-dressing in the early spring with leaf-mould or some other such 
good material. The two plants you enclosed are the Largest Quaking 
Grass ( Briza maxima ) and the scarlet Flower is Mimulus cardinalis. 
Churn .—An Amateur wishes to be informed which is most suitable 
for use where two cows are kept—the American, the Sussex, or common 
Barrel Churn ? 
Hydrangea not Flowering (L.).-How can we advise without 
knowing in what locality and on what soil you live ? 
Measure or Piece-work. —“ I look every week for an answer to my 
inquiry. The small Tan sifted out of old tan-beds. This is very fine 
and small, what is it good for? Shall I soak it with the liquid from the 
stables, and put it in a heap to rot, and then use it in the mixture for 
potting plants ? [It will not do for potting. If decaying, it will make 
good manure with the liquid.] Stove and Greenhouse Plants — Cuttings. 
I should be very thankful for a few of choice things, and will send you 
postage stamps to send to any kind correspondent inclined to give me a 
few. Fuchsias to form a part.—T. W.” 
Altrincham Poultry Show.— “ In the report in The Cottage 
Gardener of the Altrincham Poultry Show there are two mistakes as 
to the prizes awarded, viz., in the ‘ Ham burghs of any Breed,’ you give 
the first prize to W. Coberton, and the second to Lady Elennor Hop- 
wood. Now the fact is, my Golden Spangled Hamburghs took the first 
society’s prize in their own class, and also took first and second prizes J 
for the ‘ Local Prize of any Colourthe others, I fancy, took the society’s 
prizes in their own class. You also state that my Buff Cochins were j 
commended ; they were not, but a pen of Grey Shunghaes were highly | 
commended, and the first extra local prize of £2 awarded to them. I 
suspect the error has arisen from there having been two sets of prizes.— J 
Geo. Fell, Warrington .” 
Plums (A. B. C.). —Both Belgian Purple and De Montford are ex¬ 
cellent Plums, the one ripening in September and the other in August; I 
but we do not know Guthrie's Aunt Ann; we, therefore, cannot advise I 
you which of the three to remove. The two former are worthy of the j 
situation they now occupy. Mr. Guthrie, of Dundee, raised some varie- ! 
ties of Plum, and “ Aunt Ann,” perhaps, is one of them. _ 
London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, ! 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William j 
Somerville Orr, of Church Hill, Walthamstow, in the County ot 
Essex, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish o^Christ- I 
Church, City of London.—October 17, 1854. 
