The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

~IlbE GROWING IN AUSTRALIA.

There is nothing more interesting to watch than
the changes which have come, or are coming, over
the English race in the various regions where it has
settled and taken root. Canadians, citizens of the
United States, tropical planters, and settlers at the
Antipodes have all assumed, or are in process of
assuming, their several characters. Climate, insti
tutions, occupation, and mode of life, have their
share in producing these differences ; but the first
is the most potent agent. Americans and Austra-
lians are Englishmen with a sunny sky. That they
should fail to receive more warmth of temperament
more quickness of feeling, and perhaps more deli-
cacy of taste, from the bright light and pure air in
which they live would be surprising indeed. But,
wide an may be diversities, there are still some ge-
neral characteristics which never alter. The Anglo-
Saxon isalways enterprising, self-reliant, domineer-
ing over men of any other stock, an indefatigable
planter, builder, and trader. These are his great
or good qualities. On the other hand, he carries
with him one fault to every region of the globe. In-
temperance in drink is practised as much wider the
scorching suns of Southern States, or amid the hot
winds of the Australian wilderness, as in ourown
moist and foggy atmosphere. Temperance socie-
ties, teetotal societies, and Maine liquor laws, are
unable to eradicate the evil, which lessens only
inasmuch as society becomes every day more
humane and civilised. It would be a strange
thing to find in any part of the world men of our
race deserting the ardent alcohol of their fathers for
the milder drinks of the European continent. Yet
we cannot but think that such a result will be
brought about by the lapse of time. Our people
may never become as abstemious and as undesirous
of stimulating beverages as the Italian or the Orien-
tal, but it is quite probable that, under the influ-
ence of a warm climate, their tastes may be con-
tented with drinks less exciting than those to which
they are now accustomed.
For instance, the Australians,, our youngest off-
shoot, are now seriously turning their attention to
the culture of the vine, not with the wish to imitate
any particular European growth, but as a natural
and permanent production of the country. In
America the thing has long been talked of, and in
certain districts practised ; but the same obstacle
to success has intervened as will probl,bly impede
the Australian experiment. Wine-growing is the
pursuit of a poor and laborious peasantry, content
with little, and able to give up their whole time to
the culture of a small area. The husbandman and
his wife, in a good vineyard, are always watching
the shoots, carrying earth up the hillside to re-
place that which has been washed away by the rain
or parched into dust by the sun, clipping, pruning,
and digging, and must often be content in the end
with a narrow and precarious return. This will
not do for a pushing people in an empty country,
and wine is not generally grown in the States, simply
because the average production is not remunerative
at the average price of labour. However, the Aus-
tralians appear, from the tone of some of news-
papers, to be sanguine of success. Samples of
their wine were sent to the Paris Exhibition,
were pronounced excellent, and honoured
with a medal. Why, then, should not the pro-
duction be attempted on a large scale ? Why
should Australia be dependent for its beverages on
Loudon firms, who send out bottled ale and brandy,
more or less genuine at enormeus prices ? Aus-
tralia produces good wine, which the Australians
like so much that it is all bought up, and there is
none to be had. In a few years, with enterprise
and industry, the country may not only supply
itself'with wholesome drink, but make large profits
by exporting the surplus to Europe. We are glad to
learn that there are farms in New South Wales
which actually produce from 15,000 to 20,000 gal-
lons a year each, and that there is sufficient induce-
meat for new farmers to invest capital in vine culti-
vation. It is not impossible, therefore, that the pre-
sent generation may see our greatest dependency
the seat of a great production of the most generous
of beverages, and perhaps rivalling France and the
Rhineland in the quality and celebrity of its growths.
We can well anticipate that a supply of cheap
and good wine may change the tastes of the Austra-
lians, who will find it more pleasant in their almost
tropical climate to quaff some Antipodean rival of
chainpagne or claret than to heat their blood with
exotic ale, porter, and gin. Perhaps, in accord-
ance with. the custom of Anglo-Saxon colonists,
they will transfer the the names of celebrated per-
sonages or places to their new vineyards, and tbis
newest of worlds will have its Clicquot and its
Johannisberg. We wish them full and speedy suc-
cess, not merely for their own sakes but for our own.
There can be no doubt that the production of wino,
or at least of good wine, in Europe has positively di-
minithed of late years. The grape disease, in con-
junction with the unsettled state of the Continent
and the deficiency in crops vitally necessary to sub-
sistence, has limited the supply, and there is no
immedia`e prospect of abundance. Even if the
cultivation extended, it would probably be unable
to keep pace with the increased demand. France
and Germany produced nearly as much wine fifty
years ago as they do now, and wiYiin that time
whole races have come into the circle of wine con-
sumption. In those days Russia and the United
States could hardly be said to exist as wine-drinking
cauntries • now they are disposel to carry their
taste for this luxury beyond even the old-established
countries. Of late years the increase of wealth, -the
spread of civilisation, and perhaps of vanity and
the desire of display, nave immensely increased the
demand for the more delicate wines of all
and particularly those of Francee We are, in fact,
threatened with a dearth of goad wine at any rea-
sonable peke. Why, then, should we not hail the
prcepect of a supply from the Antipodes Z There is
no reason why the bill aides of Victoria and New
South Wales should not produce a grape of as ex-
quisite a flavour as any that ripens from the Rhine
to the Atlantic. Geelong and Parama.ita may one
day be household words among us. Under the in-
fluence of high prices and more temperate habits,
the importation of foreign wines has greatly de-
creased wi hin the present generation, and the re-
duction of duty would confer but little benefit ;
but with an increased production of less fiery wines
than are at present consumed the question of a
more free admission would become worthy of the
attention of politicians.—Times.