802 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
CULTURE AND PRODUCTS OF THE VINE. 
From a Report to the U. S. Commiseion at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, hy a 
Special Committee, consisting of 
MARSHALL P. WILDER, ALEX. THOMPSON, WM. J. FLAGG AND PATRICK 
BARRY. 
The exhibition of wines at the Universal Exposition of 
eighteen hundred and rdxty-seven was large. Every wine grow¬ 
ing country in Europe, as well as Australia, Canada, California 
and other sections of North and South America, were repre¬ 
sented. As there were no jurors from the United States, our 
American wines were not subjected to so full and fair an ex¬ 
amination as they were entitled to, andtoremed}^ this omission 
a special committee, consisting of the above named, was ap¬ 
pointed by the board of commissioners to make an examina¬ 
tion of the wines of our own and other countries, and report 
especially with reference to wine growing in America. To 
properly judge, however, of the different kinds, of the quali¬ 
ties, cost, sanitary influence and adaptability to our country— 
points upon which we would have been glad to report more 
fully—would require more thorough tasting and more time 
than the committee could command, or had a right to demand 
from the courtesies of foreign exhibitors or commissioners. 
As regards French wines, full reliance cannot be placed on 
what is furnished to the American traveler at hotels or cafes, 
or even what is sold to him at the shops, no matter what price 
he pays. It would, however, be doing French wines a great 
injustice to judge them by the qualities sold in this way or 
exported to America. The great body of American consum¬ 
ers have palates as yet so unskilled, and the merchants of Bor¬ 
deaux and fabricators and imitators are so adroit, that it seems 
