The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-11

It is we'll known that the Romans intro
duced the culture Of the grape in southern
Britain, and that during the middle ages
good deal of wine was made for the home
market. Nor has the custom ever died out
Of training vines against walls in gardens,
and Of Transforming part Of their yield
into wine for household use. About the
middle Of the last century, however, there
ceased to be any regular vineyards in Eng
land, and the production Of wine on a con-
siderable scale for commercial purposes was
given up. II has now been resumed, and
with encouraging prospects Of success ac-
cording to a report made recently to the
British horticultural Society.
The revival OF viticulture in England is
due to the Marquis of Butte, who in 1875
planted a vineyard Of three acres at Castle
Coch, near Cardiff, in Wales, ON protected
southern slope overlooking the Bristol Chan
mel The soil, it appears, is light and over
lies broken limestone bottom; the vines
are trained to stakes only four feet high,
and are planted in rows on the French sys-
tenn. The first wine was made two years
after the slips were set, and, although the
yield was small-only $50 bottles-it was Of
BOOu olHCt Uutu I06 NlneydTu mas
had checkered but on the whole, most
promising record. Three seasons were fail
ures. and in two the crop was very small In
1881, on the other hand, the vintage was
not only large, but OF such quality
that the whole yield brought S15 dozen,
and part of this, resold from private
cellar, fetched In 1898 not less than s2S 75,
a price which may be well deemed extraor-
binary, when one considers the cost OF sli.
perior clarets and champagnes in England.
In the year last named 1893, the same
vineyard produced twelve thousand bottles,
which were sold in bulk for 81 j, 900 There
are not many vineyards IN the world which
make better returns, and for these we
should have to go to the Tokay district. in
Hungary, and to the choicest sections Of the
Rhineland, Burgundy, and Medoc.
We learn that the proprietor of the Castle
Coch vineyard is planting a much larger
area at Swanbridge, seven miles away and
the fact that the first acre of new vines
which came into bearing last year, produced
a wine Of admirable quality seems to prove
that the success OF the older vineyard was
not accidental. Iii doubted, moreover. by
the Spectator, from which we take the
above facts, whether South Wales is SO well
adapted for vine growing as certain parts OF
southern England. In the reign of RICH
ARD H., when much wine was made. il was
said OF the Vale Of Gloucester that there il
no province Of England that hath SO many
or so good vineyards, either for fertility or
sweetness of the grape; the wine thereof
carreth no unpleasant tartness, being not
much inferior to the French in softness." In
DevOnshire and some other southern coun-
ties winemaking continued up To a rela-
lively late date. At Arundel Castle the
manufacture of excellent wine of the
Burgundy typen did not cease until the
second half of the eighssenth century. The
last place in England where good wine is
known to have been made from vineyard
grapes on large scale, was West London.
In kensington, on the site Of u park for
merly owned by HENRY CROMWELL, grapes
were raised for making Burgundy wine as
late as 1850. OF another plantation in the
vicinity the following note was made in
October, 1885, =" went TO see Mr.. ROGERss
vineyard at Parsons Green, all Of Burgundy
grapes, seemingly all perfectly ripe. lie
does not expect TO make less than fourteen
hogsheads of wine" From this record OF
the time when grapes used to ripen, the in
ference is that October would he the vintage
month in England.
The fact that the Marquis of Butte was
able TO obtain for the vintage of 1898 so
large price as Sis dozen for twelve thou
sand bottles, is likely to commend expert
ments in winemaking to a good many land
owners and farmers in those sections Of Eng
land which are best suited in respect of soil
and climate to grape culture.