The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-01-21 00:00:00

ENVILLE.

SHOOTING PARTT.—The Earl of Stamford Das been
entertaining shooting party at the Hall, consisting of
Sir Thomas Illonerieffe, Bart, General Forrester, Arthur
Payne, Esq., Bon. A. de Lisle, Captain Foster. and W.
Trow, Esq. The following is the hut of the game killed
on the 11th inst. : 377 pheasants, '22 partridges, 345
hares, 125 rabbits. On the 12th inst.: 391 pheasants, 33
partridges, 106 hares, 41 rabbits, 1 woodcock. On the
13th Inst.: 3163 pheasants, 36 partridges, 97 Dares, 39
rabbits, various 52. Grand total of killed 2,093.

SHERRY.—There is no more powerful logic than that
of facts ; and we have been much struck, in looking
through the returns of the consumption of wines in the
Unite.i Kingdom, to find that the quantity of sherry upon
which duty was paid during the past year wee almost equal
to the total quantity of wine from other countries than
Spain. This is the more remarkable, because the Altera-
tion of duties in 1862, which did so xnuch for the wines
of France and Germany, had the effect of placing sherry
at a corresponding disadvantage, inasmuch as the new
scale of duties was UM per cent, in favour of light wines,
each as claret, etc., as compared with port and sherry.
The medical profession has no doubt done much also to
increase the demand for light wines; and yet, on reflec-
tion, it is not difficult to see that there are many reasons
which, when taken singly, would not appear to be of
much importance, but have, nevertheless, almost imper-
ceptibly influenced the public in their selection of sherry
in preference to all other wines for general household
use. The almost unlimited quantity of wine produced
in Spain has made sherry a comparatively moderate
priced wine, while its intrinsic value bears a more defi-
nite relation to its se:ling price than is the case with the
growths of other countries where the value depends, to •
great extent, upon the reputation of some particular es-
tate, vintage, or district—matters which are at [best but
uncertain guides to actual value. The produce of Spain
has always been shipped to this country under the name
simply of sherry; and its price, conaequently, has been
' determined more strictly by actual value. Beyond this,
sherry haa some decided advantages over most other
wines. It does not, like port, deposit a crust, and thee
become liable to lose its brilliancy by removal or varia-
tions of temperature. As compared with light wines,
such as claret and hock, it has the further advantage of
economy, from its keeping good in the decanter for any
length of time—a matter of considerable convenience,..
it is thus always at hand whether required for use at
meals or on other occasions. Considered medically,
sherry is a wholesome stimulant, more perfectly fermen-
ted than malt liquor ; and Its extractive matters are un-
doubtedly more digestible than those of either malt be-
verages or of port and other kinds of wine. Many kinds
of light sound sherry have bitter qualities, such as are
especially marked in Manzenilla, which make them die-
tinctly tonic and appetising ; aud it harmonizes better
than other wines with all kin ie of light vegetable tonics
and bitters calculated to improve an enfeebled digestion.
It admits readily of dilution without losing tie agreeable
characteristics. We must confess to have :found much
interesting information on the subject of wine in a pam-
phlet published by Messrs. W. and A. Gilbey-4 Trainee
on the Wilms of the diferent producing Countries. The
chapter headed" The Chemistry of Wine" contains some
etatisties and information of special interest to the medi•
cal profession, compiled by some of the molt eminent
analytical chemists of the day. The generally increased
consumption of wine is no doubt due to the feet that its
present cost ie only about one half of what it was ten or
twenty years ago; and this decrease in price is mutate.
tionably owing in a great measure to the fact that wino
has become more strictly a cAnmercial article, to be ob-
tained almost everywhere of grocers or others, just bathe
same manner as we procure the other ordinary articles of
daily
some
well-known houseikonno;thegr of established grocer
eoslitaabinitdhis
supliee
from mreputation,
and selling it at certain fixed prices. We have been
turning attention lately to these wines; and the quail.
tity of moderate priced wines purchased in this way
proves to be of a far higher average than that of wines
of greater pretension sold by vintners and small wine
merchants. The subject is one of considerabie dietetic
importance ; and we propose to detail some of the remits
of the examinations which we have instituted. Cheap-
ness is by no means incompatible with good quality. In
the south of Europe, grapes are the most prolific pro.
suction. of the soil ; suet there is, indeed, no reason why
wine should not ultimately be sold in this country steam
much lower prices—the high rate of duty, expenaa of
conveyance, and other intermediate charges, now forming
an item much more formidable than the first cost of the
wine itself. The best way we know to encourage an hon-
est competition, likely to bring about this desirable result,
ie occasionally to testand report oa the relative qualities
and prices of the cheaper winos offered fir sale—Li dish
dicdicol Jourrud, Jan. 7th,

Notices of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, when proper,
authenticated, 011 be inberted in the tiliserveq free ji
charge.

BIRTHS.

On the 15th mat, the wife of T. W. D. Gould, Esg.,
Solicitor, of this town, of a daughter.
On the 17th inst. at White Houses, Baggeridge, near
Wombourne, the wife of Mr. Isaac natio), Fellows, of a
daughter.