, 1866-10-12

learn that among the White French wines
imported into England are included imi-
~tations of Sherry and Madeira, proceed
ing from Cette and Marseilles, where the
s'real nutty favour" is skiIfully impaired
by chymical compounds. The writer in
the MonGteur considers this branch of
commerce analogous to that of the cham
payne made on the Rhine and sold as
French, but the parallel is hardly fair,
since the sparkling Moselle and Rhine
wines and Swiss champagne are natural
wines, very different from the Cette
compounds, and often, in all but name,
very little inferior TO q great deal Of
French champagne. Probably, Picardan
finds a certain sale in England, to be
doctored into sherry. Of the excellent
white wines Of Bordeaux and Burgundy
the consumption in England can hardly
be large, and most of them, except in
warm weather, would probably be found
too cold and thin for the climate, and the
British palate accustomed TO much strong
err rotations. The wines of Southern
France are recommended as we'll suited
to England, slightly branded, and sent as
much as possible by sea, in order to save
them from the pernicious effect the Pc
culiar jogging motion of the railway has
upon them. While giving the French
exporter some advice as to the manner
Of arranging his shipments-to send all
his wine in bottles, with q good proper
ton of pints, especially champagne and
the finer wines, &c.-the writer let's us
into some Of the tricks of the trade
"Certain exporters instead of using
the ordinary Bordeaux and Burgundy
bottles have some made on purpose for
expectation, smaller or of thicker glass,
with bulbs at the bottom which diminish
the contents by 10 or 20 per cent. The
best pattern to adopt would be the cham
payne bottle, holding 4-5ths of q litre,
never less. 1t is the same with casks.
The Cote dor barrel, which ought to
hold 228 l~itres, often holds only 2l4,
the Medoc casks, nominalIy 900, holds
but go, &C. It is important to our
wine trade that in these shipments scru-
pulous regard should be paid to the
quantity as well as quality"
The writer does not understand why
shipments of French wines should be
almost exclusively to London and Liver
pool, and not to other provincial ports,
since in many counties far from those
two cities these wines are largely con-
sumed in the hotels and t~averns, which
incur additional charges by this arrange
ment. He says =
"FinalIy, it would be desirable that
the trade in our wines should be carried
on in England by French houses there
established, so as to avoid their passing
through so many intermediate hands be-
fore reaching the consumer"
Letters from Florence speak a%pprehen-
siyely of the cholera on account of its in
crease at Naples and Genoa. 1t was said
there had been sone cases at Spezzia.
At Florence, says one letter, "the syndic
has begun to take severer measures it
must be owned that the capital is favour
ed by Heaven, for when one sees the dirt
that still exists in the populous quarters
of the town one wonders at its having
beensso long preserved from the scourge."
There has been no vigorous municipal
action, or Florence would long ago have
been in a very different state. One can
quite understand that the doubt whether