The tri-weekly standard., 1866-06-14
RALEIGH, n. c., THURSDAY,

NATURE.-A correspondent of the Chi
cago Post writes very sensibly on the
subject of foreign wines. Having quo
ted Falstaf's panegyric on "your ex-
cellent sherries,' he predicates that if
Sir John had lived in our day, and
drank the compound sold as sherry, he
would have sung very different song.
Says the writer:
The juice of the grape contains prop
critics of the highest medical value and
when termented and scientifically con-
yerted into wine, constitutes the most
rational beverage that has been vouch-
Safed to fnankind--neXt to water, the
universal element for the use ofall things
animate and inanimate. 1t is however,
scarcely possible to get pure, unadul-
terated article of foreign wine in this
country, and this difficulty is not con-
fined to the United States it also eX-
tends to the very country where the
wine is produced. Having found it i'm
possible to procure any pure sherry in
this city, though had come near pois
oning myself with several samples
which the vendors pronounced "pure,"
| wrote to u friend in England to send
me package ofpure sherry, presuming
it could be obtained there. To show
you and your readers that getting mon
ey under false prctenses is practiced in
Europe rs well as here, I will give you
the answer to my request:
ENGLAND, March 4.
* * r I do not believe there is such
thing as genuine sherry wine to be
had in either England or Scotland 1t
is all aduiterated with bad brandy and
other objectionabl materials. / have
long since ceased to drink it. Port
wine is still worse, yet immense guam
titles are drank. / am told it is almost
impossible to purchase either sherry or
port, pure and unadulterated, even in
Cadiz or Oporto. They arc first adul-
terated there, and then Il sc cond dose is
added here, from some horrible COM
pounds. In much OF the sherry that is
sold, [ am assured that there is not
single drop Of grape juice. There are
large manufactures in III r'aburg where
sherry is made without ngle drop of
the juice of the grape such stuff is
enough to poison people, For this reas-
on those wines which were from time
immemorial the accustomed beverages
of the higher and middle c asses of Great
Britain, have come to be Stunned rs
poiSons. Our strong al"s have come to
be substituted as the common table bev-
crages. l doubt if i. would be possible
for you to get pure srerry, even il you
imported direct from Cadiz to America
certainly none OF it comes to Eng
land, SO far as ply observation goes
We are beginning to use the light
French wines. There is no wine like
so well as pure B Ilrgundy.
Leaving Europe to herself, il is more
than we can do successfully to cope with
the adulterators, of wines and liquors in
this country. The extent to which it is
practiced amorg g liquor dealers as a class
would be inc rec; BILE were it not well
established fac t, known to thousands in
every large cor lmunity, besides the deal
ers themselves. Wines of foreign growth
are too little used in this country to
have their true flavor and properties ap-
preciated h ence frauds are most easily
practiced. They are daily prescribed
by physieia1is and resorted to by inva-
lids, who confidently take into their
stomachs Il poison worse than the dis
ease they W ish to- eradicate. Few can
detect the spurious character of the ar
ticle. We re it the water we are accus-
toned to aaw from our hydrants here
in Chicago, the cheat would be at once
detected--you can't pass the stuff off
for water I ipon man or beast. l should
like to wit ness the joke it any liquor
dealer has the cheek to try it.
Were not this article so long already,
I would snow you what vile stuff goes
ais, gin, & c., and add a few receipts for
making brandy, sherry, g..
AGE OF ANIMALs.-A bear rarely
exceeds twenty years. A dog lives
twenty years; wolftwenty fox four
teen or sixteen years; lions are long
lived. One has been known to live to
the age Of seventy years +; squirrel or
hare seven or eight years; rabbits sew
en-. Elephants have been known to
live to the great age of 400 years.
When Alexander the Great bad con-
quered Phorus, King of India, he took
a great elephent, which had fought val
iantly for tne.K ing, and named him Ajax
dedicating him to the sun, and let him
go, after placing upon him this inscrip-
ton: Alexander, the son of Jupiter.
hath dedicated Ajax to the sum- This
elephant was found with this inscrip-
tion three hundred and fifty years after
ward.
Pigs have been known to live to the
age of thirty years; the rhir,oceros to
twenty. A horse has been known to
live to the age of sixty-two, but aver
ages from twenty to thirty Camels
sometimes live to the age of one hund-
red. Stays are long lived Sheep sell
dom exceed the age of ten. Cows from
fifteen to twenty. Cuvier considers it
probable that whales sometimes live
one thousand years. a swan has at
tained the age of two hundred years.
Pelicans are long lived. Atortoise has
been known to live to the age of one
hundred and seven. Insects, as gen
eral rule, are short lived, though there
are a good many exceptions.
notice.
PETER AND PEGGY VINSON, .COLOEED,l
sof Halifax County, wish to obtain ilformation af