Nebraska advertiser., 1868-09-10

enci. a strip less than ten miles in
length whose fruityields ajuice which
-surDasses all others of the world, COM
bining richness with flavor and deli
.cacv with strength. The soil of the
Rhinegrn seems to be red sandstone
MOSTLY. if not wholly. Johannesburg
hill reminds one strongly ofthe soil Of
some parts of New Jersey and Con-
necticut: and in the n~eighborhOod Of
New Heven. in the the latter State,
the "basaltn is seen resting upon the
redstone. lust as it does upon the hills
that skirt the Rhine. Nearly all the
German and swiss wines, and, indeed
nearly all the grapes grown in Ger
many and Switzerland, are white for
which the soil and climate of the for
mer country seems peculiarly adapted,
while at the same time unsuited for
ripening colored grapes to the tint
needed in a true red wine. The pecu-
Iiarity Of the better sort of Rhenish
wines is" bouquet" and of the inferi-
or sort, acidity compared with them;
their French rivals are quite negative,
and so are those of Switzerland. A
French wine, white or red, must be
very poor indeed if it shows any acid
ity, and must be very fine indeed if it
possesses any easily-tasted bouquet"
Altogether, we must award the palm
of excellence to the white wines of the
Rhine, as we do to the skill and in
dustry of the Vine-dressers who pro-
duce them. In considering the merits
of the different soils as geolOgically
distinguished from each other, we
seem drawn to the conclusion that, so
far as our observation has gone, the
red sandstone is the superior one but
wecOnfess ourselves unfit to make any
such sweeping generalization, and will
only say that the soil in question, for
aught We can see, seems as fit as any
other to grow a superior wine. The
difference between wine made by fer
menting the bruised grapes, juice, skin
pulp, and seeds altogether, and called
T" red wine," and that made by press
ing Immediately after gathering and
feTmenting ist pressed juice by itself,
called " white wine," is not a differ
ence ofcOlor alone. For certain bodily
temperaments and for certain conditi-
ons of health, possibly, too, for the
peculiar constitution of the German
people, Uhite SOineS may be the best.
And to that of the Rhine country
LiebiQ attributes the virtue of being
an antidote for calculus and govt.
But all this being admitted, the better
reasons seem to favor the production
anduse differed wine in preference to
the white, where it can be done. The
testimony we have obtained from the
best source of knowledge on this point
amount to this:
Red wine is much less heating,
much more tonic, much less exciting
to the nerves, much less Intoxicating
to the brain; and its effects are more
enduring than white wine. AS we of
America are, by reason of our dry
climate, as well as from moral causes,
more excitable, both from brain and
nerve, than the Europeans, and at the
same time much oftener in need of
tonic diet, and our summer heats are
so mnch more intense than in the
wine ATTITUDES of Europe, all the above
considerations should have peculiar
weight with us. So highly, at least,
do the French people appreciate them
that they consume now little white
wine, and it lbears always a lower
price in the market than red of equal
quality. To the general consumption
of this drink intelligent Frenchmen
are apt to attribute the fine health of
their peasantry, as well as their ha-
bitual gaiety and habitual temperance.
1.-THE habitual use of GOhiskey has quite
another effect An Americans gen
tleman, for many years residing in
France, and for a time a professor in
one of the universities, affirms that
the greatest longevity is among those
people who take red wine three times
a day and abstain from both tea and
coffee. When Americans consult
French physicians, three times in
four they are ordered to drink red
wine as a habitual beverage; aud one
Of the commonest daily events among
Americans residing in Paris is the cure
of an obstinate dyspepsia by the same
simple remedy, even in the unhealth-
full air of that city.
The German vineyards have hither-
to escaped any very serious ravages
from the ''vine disease 1t is met as
often as it appears, and successfully
cOmbated with sulphur. Three appli-
cations are made, the first as o as
the berries have grown to be as large
as the head of a pin. Earlyin the day
and before the dew is dried off, the
flour is sprinckled on the lower sur
face Of the leaves, where the moisture
causes it to attach.
At Rheims we were shown a large
vine, trained to a wall, one half of
which had been treated as above in
the spring of the year before, and the
other half neglected. The latter had
as a consequence, lost all of its fruit,
and we visited the place and saw it
the following season. 1t showed yell
low and falling leaves in July, and
very little fruit, while the other por-
ton was perfectly healthy, and was
loaded withagOod crop af fruit. This
experiment was made by a French
gentleman, whohad recently returned
from a long sojourned in America,
and visited that country for the pur-
pose of satisfying himself if the sui
phur be really a preventive or not
against the vine disease, of which he
had heard so many doubts expressed
while in America.