The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-09-05
GRAPES-WINES.

the mind thoughtful Of the aeon
cies by which the State Is TO be AID
vanced in prosperity, the consider
ton of one. ALWAYS reliable. ard al
mostalways condemned as too trivial
to engage the thoughts of statesman
ship. vet one which IN other cllmes
and among a people more sagaclous
to apply natural advantages, has
proved in the past, the perennial
source of national wealth. We al
lude to the grape. As if to tempt
our people to appreciation OF Its
value. Nature festoons the forests
of the American woods hangs her
garland of vines along the hedge
rows, and crowns them with the
wealth of fruit ready for the wine
press. And year after year, as II
to impress the lesson the more
forcibly, the frosts of spring which
ruthlessly mock the labors OF the
orchardist, touch gently upon the
vine, and spare the grape to glad
den at the joyous fruiting time.
1t is a striking fact that with us
the grape crop is almost a certain
one, and that it is free from the
diseases which yex and impoverish
the European %vigneron. Native to
the soil in their originals and IN
their varieties, they adapt them
selves to the climate, and with ma
tive hardihood bid defiance to dis
ease. And in perfection of fruit
age, in richness Of flavor and III
abundance of bearing. they comply
with all the requisites for protita-
bic culture; all except one-they
do not make il wine which resem-
bles the accustomed or the fashion
able wines of Europe.
1t is tluly a slavish subservience
to taste OF to habit that the forty
millions of American people con-
slider themselves bound ineXtrica-
bly to the chariot wheels of a Eu-
ropean standards; when IN reality.
Europe has no longer such stand
ard to set up. The Oidium and the
phyloxera have struck at the roots
Of her pride, and she Il no longer
boast herself as the arblter Of
taste: because she has nothing
left to maintain her pretenslons.
The mountain sides Of MADEIRA are
no longer mantled with the clus-
tering vine that yielded the nectar
so dear the to Southern connOlsseur.
Mere. and Oporto send out a feeble
and muddy stream, and the Ga
rome no more inspires the ~revelry
of the foreign bacchaneal.
In other words, pure wines NJ
longer reach us from Europe, ex-
cept in the inconsiderable supplies
accessible only to the l~uxuriou
rich. The sherries that we drink
he Ports, the Madeiras, the Clar
cts, owe their paternity to the dis
tilleries of Cincinnati. Every con
sumner drinks with full conviction
of the imposition, and despises him
self for yielding to the slavery of
fashion which binds him in subjec
ton to a foreign model. But VIII
should this continue to be so
Why submit to the force Of a Gus
tom self CONNECTIVE of absurditv
Why cling to the shadow when tn
substance has long since vanished
The vaunted aroma and bouque
of your foreign wines you know
be nothing more than some etht
rial, attenuated favors throw
around the coarser fumes of cor
whisky, reduced and adulterate
to emasculate it, and subdue i
fiery potency within gentleman
) bounds. But it is whiskey still.
!. With the full knowledge that a
the European wines drank i
America are shams, why not thro
off the yoke at once, and set up a
| independent American Standar,
e both of taste and strength? The.
J being no substantial foreign sta1
dard IN follow nOtbipr loft Lu+ II