The Irish standard., 1896-12-05
WEIGH VINEYARD WIN F..
Revival by the: Oaarts Wis of Ht,te .of
s,Neg4Sf.te I'd KiAslMstry., t. s /. ''s WIZ

| It is stated that the Marquis Of Butte
| will have a ;t'Eiurmper' crop Of wine from
| his Welsh vineyards this year, says The
Pail Mall Gazette. The vines, now in full
| perfection of bearing, make '-wcndrous
| display of grapes in a summer like tha t
| just finished. Certainly the marquis de-
! serves all the good fortune that can betali
him. It was q pleasant idea to test, by
actuaI experiment the legends Of English
wine-making. Everybody knows in a gen
eral way that this was land Of vine
wards once on tinse.~ The evidence~is be-
yond dispute, descending without a break
from the Venerable Bede in the eighth
century to Queen Elizabeth, who received
a. yearly present Of wine from the Bishop
of Rochester, a custom ting at--least
from the era of Edward / T., When lit is
mentioned Why, then, did the English
vineyards collapse on a sudden? They
We're not few Thirty eight are mentioned
in Domesday; Mr.. Roach Smith identified
sixty in the home counties alone. Among
the explanations offered. that given by
Or. Willis in his archaeological History
Of Cambridge" is noteworthy. The Vine
yards belonged generally To monasteries,
and they were not really used for making
wine nor even, in the first instance. for
yielding grapes. The monks planted. and
maintained them to provide shady walks,
and when those gentle deVoLees withdrew.
the vineyards ceased to have a rason
d'etre. ssis.o :,s5 M
There is much more to say upon the sub
ject not unprofitably; big: ,panaphlets.iif il
not books. have been devoted to 1t. The
Marquis of Butte. resolved to close the dis
cussion by planting VINEYARD and max
ing wine--if possible. -Tle planted his
vineyard at Castle Cocil in 6i]anorgan-
shire. upon the advice of the best author
tiles, this was in 1875, and nineteen years
afterward Mr.. A. ePetttgrew, his lord
ships gardener, gave a detailed account
of the results to the Royal HORTICULTURAL
Society. The technical nfolma ton. there
in is mostrvaluable but in this place we
are concerned only with the outcome-the
wine. f
THAT boom appeared to the amount OF
forty gallons, in 1877, but beyond the mere
fact nothing is said OF IT, There was
nothing pleasant to say, perhaps. Next
year wine is not even mentioned, but
Mr.. Pettisrew felt cheerful nevertheless.
He looked forward to 1879. But his hopes
and his vines were so cruelty pllghted
that I'VE did not gather one bunch Of
grapes from the whole vineya rd,' AndSa3
blank failure like this means ruin for the
year following. After Ave seasons, there
fore, the marquis had d3'orly secured forty
gallons. Of wine, of a class which did not
call for remark But In 1881 there was q
notable change. We are not told the
quantity Of wine, but al with the ex-
ceptiOn Of few dozens Kept for the use
Of the castle, was sold ts60s. per dozen
to a wine merchant at Cardiff This was
business! It is not to be suspected either
that the tradEsmen counted upon any loy-:s
al enthusiasm of the Cardiff folks to splfr-
chase their marquis's "own brew az q
fancy price, for ''Dr. Lawson TAFT, Of
Birmingham, bought several dozens from
the wine merchant In question. some Sot
which was sold by auction at Birmingham
last year ana fetched lbs. per dozen
SO the long debate ended. Wine for " llfch
lx11