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1 May, 1898. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 381 
Viticulture. 
Mr. E. H. Ratyrorp, Government Viticulturist, has furnished the Department 
of Agriculture with the following very valuable report on his recent tour 
through the viticultural districts of the colony, when he closely investigated 
’ their capabilities, the system of wine-making at present in vogue, and all other 
matters connected with the industry :— ; 
CONDENSED REPORT. 
My round comprised the districts of Roma, Mitchell, Stanthorpe, 
Warwick, and Toowoomba, and I will deal with each separately, and in the 
above order. 
Roata.—The soil of this district is, generally speaking, a sandy loam with. 
occasional ridges of almost pure sand; asubsoil of yellow clay mixed with sand 
and apparently permeable to water underlies the whole at a depth of from 
1 to 4 feet. Some of the proprietors have chosen the sandiest ridges for 
planting their vines, apparently under the impression that this soil is most 
suitable for the purpose. No greater mistake could be made. The vine likes 
an open soil it is true; but it also requires nourishment and plenty of it, and 
a soil composed of three parts of siliceous sand is eminently unsuited for a 
yineyard. ‘The vine for the first few years makes a great show consequent on 
the rapid extension of its root system and absorption of available nutriment, 
then a period of decline arrives as the roots find less and less to feed upon, 
until the vine becomes chlorosed and a prey to fungoid pests, consequent upon 
their want of vitality and power to resist disease ; this was observable in one or 
two vineyards in this district. 
The quality of the wine grown on these sandy ridges is equally defective, 
the must being poor and of low saccharine density, which, if left to itself, 
would make a wine of low alcoholicity and small keeping powers ; to remedy 
this defect the wine-makers have been accustomed to raise the density of the 
must by the addition of sugar, or to fortify the wine with alcohol to preserve 
it, either proceeding being contrary to the production of good natural wine. 
As a proof of the poverty of these sandy soils, I made comparative tests _ 
of the must from grapes picked by myself in the vineyards of varying quality 
of soil, with the following results: — 
Vineyard No.1, sandy ridge, at Roma, gave a must of the density of 
9 degrees Baume, or 14'S per cent. of sugar. ; ie 
Vineyard No. 2, at Mitchell, sand and loam, gave a must of 9:25 degrees 
Baume, or 15'5 per cent. sugar. ! 
Vineyard No.8, at Roma, less sand and more loam, gave 1.0 degrees Baume, 
or 17 per cent. sugar. 
Vineyard No. 4, at Roma, nearly identical in soil composition to the last, 
gaye same saccharine density. . 
Vineyard No. 5, at Roma, still less sandy, gave a density of 10:25 degrees 
Baume, or 17°5 per cent. sugar. A few other vineyards I was unable to 
proceed to, but was informed by a local purchaser that the grapes rarely 
exceeded 9 degrees Baumé, or 14°8 of sugar, and these were of the sandy 
ridge class. ae 
The trials were all made on the same grape, the Black Cluster, and 
not yet ripe, so the above densities must not be taken as indicative of 
the full strength of the musts made on the above-mentioned vineyards— 
these tests were sufficient for comparing one with another. We have, by 
these tests, positive proof of the inadaptability of the sandy ridges for 
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