THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 17, 1860. 
45 
could bo better behaved than this society; the very bulls had a 
sotto-voce bellow, quite different from that of vulgar bulls, by 
which they expressed their sovereign wishes to their matron 
dames. The cows are of Swiss breed ; on one side of the dairy 
they arc all red, on the other all spotted. Behind each cow was 
a diary of her age, food, milk, &c. The Swiss cows are pre¬ 
ferred, I believe, rather for their beauty and rarity, than for any 
superiority in milking or feeding, to the native white or dun 
breed of Hungary ; which, by a little care and attention, might 
pi'obably be much improved. It is doubtful whether the in¬ 
troduction of new breeds, or the cultivation of those natural to 
the country, is the moro advantageous. 
Tobacco. —The road we were pursuing offered few objects 
to interest us: it is true, we passed the ruins of the two old 
castles of Ncograd and Honth, but they are remarkable only 
as giving their names to the two counties in which they stand. 
It was August, and the peasants were busy in some places 
gathering the Tobacco leaves. This harvest occupies more tnan 
a month ; as they only pluck the leaves at intervals as they ripen, 
taking first thoso from below, and rising as tlio upper leaves 
expand and get ready. Tho first gathering had been finished 
some time, and its produce was hanging to dry in long festoons 
under the eaves of tho cottages. I know no garlands whose 
effect, either on the moralist or painter, can bo more pleasing 
than those of the green Tobacco leaf and the bright yellow Maize 
as they cluster in fine contrast round the dark wooden cottage 
of a rich contented peasant. The best Tobacco, however, is not 
grown here, but in the county of Heves, where its cultivation 
and preparation are well cared for, and a very superior article is 
produced. As an old smoker, I must declare that I know 
nothing equal to a pipe of good Hungarian Tobacco, except, 
perhaps, some of the best Turkish. 
Tokay. —We were too early to enjoy any of the festivities of 
the vintage of Tokay, which call all the nobility of the neigh¬ 
bourhood together, and are generally kept up with balls and 
fetes for at least a fortnight. What the reader will perhaps 
think less pardonable is, that I can say nothing of the process of 
making the wine from personal observation ; but I have heard it 
so often described by persons themselves possessing vineyards, 
that I can probably give more accurate information about it than 
if I had myself witnessed it. The whole of the Hegyalla moun¬ 
tains, extending along the banks of the Bodrog twenty miles 
north of Tokay, produce the Tokay wine. The finest sorts, 
however, are grown only in Tokay, Tartzal, Zombor, Taliya, Mad, 
Keresztur, and some few other villages ; the very finest only on 
a small hill, the Mezes-Male, in the parish of Tartzal. About 
Tokay, and I believe along the w’hole chain, the hills are com¬ 
posed of basalt and trachytic conglomerate, covered with a deep 
sandy soil. The Grapes are of many different kinds, of which 
the Formint and Champagne are considered the best. The late¬ 
ness of the vintage, which is not begun here till the 26th of 
October, when it is finished in other parts of the country, has 
considerable effect on the quality of the wine. Three kinds of 
wine are made at Tokay,—the Fssentz, the Ausbruch, and the 
Mdslds, so called from the different modes of preparing them. 
Trom the length of time the Grapes hang, a great number of 
them lose part of their juice, begin to wither, and become ex¬ 
ceedingly sweet. These Grapes, when gathered, are placed on 
wooden trays, and sorted one by one with the greatest care, 
only the finest being selected; those which are too much 
withered, and those which are unripe being alike rejected. "When 
it is wished to obtain the Fssentz, these Grapes are placed in a 
barrel with holes at the bottom, through which all the juice that 
fio vs, without any other pressure being applied than their own 
weight, is allowed to pass off;—and this it is which constitutes 
the Fssentz. After the Fssentz is extracted, or,—as happens 
most frequently—when none has been taken, the Grapes are at 
once placed in a vat and gently pressed with the hand, a small 
quantity of good must, or new wine, obtained in tho ordinary 
manner, being poured over them to increase the quantity and 
facilitate its flow;—and the result of this process is the Ausbruch. 
To produce the Mdslds, a large quantity of less choice must is 
poured over the same berries, which are now pressed as in 
making common wine. The Fssentz can only be obtain 1 d in the 
very best years; and, indeed it is only in favourable years that 
Ausbruch of a good quality is produced. The wine ought to 
have a fine, bright, topaz colour. The Fssentz is sweet and 
luscious to the highest degree, and is esteemed rather as a 
curiosity than as pleasing to tho palate ; but it is the Ausbruch 
on which the reputation of Tolcay depends. It is a sweet, rich, 
but not cloying wine ; strong, full-bodied, but mild, bright, and 
clear ; and has a peculiar flavour of most exquisite delicacy. I 
have never tasted it in perfection but at private tables, and that 
only twice; I could then have willingly confessed it the finest 
wine in the world. The Mdslds is a much thinner wine, rather 
sweet, with a preponderating flavour of the dried Grape. The 
product of the whole Hegyalla vintage, in an ordinarily favour¬ 
able season, may amount to about 250,000 eimers (the eimer con¬ 
tains about as much as sixteen ordinary wine-bottles) ; of which 
not more than one-quarter, and probably much less, is Ausbruch. 
Tolcay should not bo drunk till it is some years old; and it is 
none the worse for twenty years’ keping in a good cellar. Even in 
Hungary I have known a duat (10.?.) given for a pint bottle of 
good old Tolcay. I'or a fair wine, however, of three or four 
years old, four shillings the common bottle is a good price, and 
it may generally be obtained at that rate without difficiflty. The 
expense of transport and duties comes, I think, to about two 
sliillings the bottle more. Great care, however, should be taken 
in choosing a person to whom it may be safely confided. Two 
cases, which wc entrusted to a merchant of Pest, arrived in 
England in a state of fermentation, with moro than half the 
bottles broken, and tho rest quite spoiled. We have every reason 
to believe that this arose from a portion of our wine being taken 
out and the bottles filled up with new wine; and, though the 
evidence is not sufficiently strong to justify me in publishing the 
name of this person, it is more than enough to make me caution 
any future traveller to be quite sure of his man before he ventures 
on giving such a commission. A society for “ making known 
Hungarian wines ” has lately been formed at Pest, and in its 
cellars genuine wines, supplied by the growers themselves, may 
be obtained; and Mr. Liedermann, a merchant and banker of 
Pest, who is connected with the society, will undertake to forward 
them.—( Poget’s Hungary and Transylvania.) 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
A Catalogue of Bedding and other choice Flower-Garden 
Plants. By John Scott, Merriott Nurseries, Crewkerne and 
Yeovil, Somerset. This is a well-got-up descriptive catalogue, 
and will be useful to purchasers. 
A Descriptive Catalogue of Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, Fuchsias, 
fyc. By William Holmes, Frampton Park, Hackney. Erom 
Mr. Holmes’s well-known reputation as a florist, and particularly 
as a successful grower of Chrysanthemums, this catalogue will be 
regarded as one of authority in its descriptions and selections. 
It is prefaced by an excellent paper on the cultivation of the 
Chrysanthemum. We have also before us Mr. Holmes’s Cata¬ 
logue of GardeH, Agricultural, and Flower Seeds. 
Catalogue of Geraniums, Fuchsias, Dahlias, Hollyhocks, S(c. 
By Fdivard Taylor, Nurseryman, Spc., Malton, Yorkshire. This 
is also an excellent and useful descriptive catalogue, and contains 
judicious selections of the new varieties of florists’ flowers. 
Messrs. Hugh Low <$f Co., of Clapton, have issued a quarto 
sheet of four pages, containing a descriptive list of their novelties 
for tho spring of 1860. Many of these are very fine things, and 
consist of such plants as Pinus Lophosperma, Allocasia metallica , 
Sphcerostemma marmorata, a great number of Begonias, Ver¬ 
benas, Roses, Fuchsias, Pentstemons, and Chrysanthemums. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Circular .Bed ( C. Lauford). —Again we have to reply we cannot plant, 
we only point out where the planting proposed is- defective. Golden 
Chain is usually used for rows, not for a mass. 
Pear Blossoms without Stamens (A Very Old Subscriber). —By all 
means try shaking pollen on the bloom; but if another Pear tree is near 
the bees ought to convey it. Try ringing one of the branches immediately. 
Send us some specimens of the blossoms when open. 
Removing Ranunculuses (A. N. N.). —Ranunculuses can be removed 
from the day they appear above ground till the day the leaves die hack. 
All through the growth and blooming season we always regulate ours and 
our Crocuses when they are in bloom. We took up two of the rarest of 
them in England this week in bloom, and sent them seventy miles by post. 
Tobacco water is the safest for you, and the compound water the cheapest. 
70° or 75° is hot enough for a Waltonian Case in the morning, and from 
80° to 85° at mid-day. Water and sand are the best mixture fur Verbena 
cuttings only , and only when they are to be in an open greenhouse or 
living-room, not when "closely confined. 
Name Of Riiododenuron (It. IT. O.).— It is Rhododendron ciliatum, tile 
poor man’s Rhododendron of all the Sikkim kinds, because it is the easiest 
of them to grow, tho best pot plant of them all; and if it is kept in a warm 
greenhouse, after flowering in the spring, till the flower-budsarc well set, 
or if it is forced to set them earlier, it will come in naturally for bloom at 
