Nebraska advertiser., 1868-08-27

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Gas America IL destined to become
a great wine-prOducing country, her
people ought to be better acquainted
than they are with the higher grades
of foreign wines, but they have as yet
drunk so little of these, that their
standard Of excellence remains COM
paratively low. Now, except In Cali
fornia, none Of the European vines
will grow in America, and we are
compelled to search in our forests, and
develop in nurseries and vineyards the
varieties which are in the future to be
our reliance for competing with foreign
producers, and finally, it is to be hoped
emancipating ourselves from them
altogether. OF course, then the high
er our standard of taste is, that is, the
higher our aim, the better will be our
success.
"Our American vineyards compare
very well with those of France, and so
do Our cellars, presses, and casks.
"sOIL AND EXPOSURE
"The soil of Medoc, where stand
Chateau Margaux,' Chateau La Fitte'
and Chateau La Tour is a bed of
coarse gravel, among whose pebbles
i LlG I'VE YAH DdlELN ACNCCN SUI EllUuku
to support the lowest form of vegeta-
BILE life. In the vicinity of Bezires, on
the other hand, the land is rich and
strong enough to yield any kind of a
crop; yet MedOc grows wine that often
sells for ten dollars per gallon, while
that of Bezires sometimes sell for less
than ten cents per gallon. In Bur.
gundy there is q long hill on whose
dark red ferrugiROus limestone sides a
wretched thin covering Of earth lies,
like the coat Of a beggar, revealing,
the nakedness beneath. Here stand
little starveling vines, very slender
and very low: yet here is the celebra-
ted Clos VaugeOt, and this is the hill
and these are the vines that yield a
wine rivaling in excellence and value
that of Medoc, and to the fortunate
proprietor the Cote dor is what it
signifies, "a hillside of gold, At its
base spreads out a wide and very fer
tile plain, covered with luXuriant
vines, whose juice sells from ten to
twenty cents per gallon.
" If you go farther nOrthward and
examine the hills of Champagne, you
will find them to be merely hills of
chalk and these instances only illus
trate the rule derived not from them
alone, but abundance of others, that
for good wine, you must go to a dry
and meagFe soil. Yet we should be
sorry to have to extend the rule, and
say that the poorer the soil the better
the wine, for there are certainly very
few patches of ground in America that
can,match in poverty the mountains
of Champagne, the hills of Burgundy,
or the slopes Of Medoc.
PREPARING THE GROUND, PLANTING
THE VINES.
"This is probably as well understood
in America as in France. In Burgun-
dy, Champagne, and some other
districts it is the practice to renew the
vigor ofthe vines by laying down the
cane and roofing the plant in a new
place, which quite breaks up the Origi-
nal lines, so the pillow can not be used.
This is doubtless a good way to renew
the streI 9Th Of the plant but it is OBJ
jected to by high authority on the as
sumption that the older the stalk is the
better the wine will be; on the other
hand, Champagne yine-dressers have
attributed to this practice in a great
measure their almost total exemption
from the vine disease.
"But then, again, others attribute
that exemption to the general and
long established custom of spreading
over the vineyards a bituminOns shale
containing sulpher, a well-knOwn an
tidOte and here we would recommend
most strongly to our cOuntrymen a
renewed and sustained effort to combat
mildew with sulpher. The experience
of France and other countries is enti-
reIyi in its favor, and its use is still felt
to be necessary, and is still kept up.
1--WE think Americans have not
been thorough enough, and patient
enough. Let them try again, and
this time let them begin early, and
to be sure to follow carefully these
rules on the subject, which have
been hitherto much better prOmUlga-
ted than observed. On rich and level
land, a common plan in some districts
is to set out double rows of vines, at
wideintervals, in fields chiefly devoted
to other crops. The free exposure to
sun and air thus secured seems largely
to augment the yield, and this viii be
understood by any one who has noticed
the superior prOductivness of such of
his vines as grow bordering on a wide
alley or other open space. This is very
different from planting vegetables, etc
among the vines, which is a bad prae-
tice.