The object of these papers is to excite to objects of agriculture, manufacture, commerce, and consumption of the utmost importance to the prosperity of our country. The forms and niceties of literary composition will yield their claim to attention to the more solid substance of the pertinent information and suggestions.
In the course of the consideration of this subject, several letters from living friends to our prosperity have been brought together. The remainder of this paper will be appropriated to the publication of one of those letters, of very recent date, from a native of the United States, of the best opportunities, inBordeaux, the emporium of that part of the kingdom of France which gives to us the largest quantities of the most esteemed wines and brandies which enter into our regular consumption. It here follows, in its own clear and instructive terms.
"I have been favoured by your letter of the 24th.Chaptal, sur la Culture de Vine,l'Abbe Rozier'smemoire sur le mellieure maniere de faire et gouverner les Vins, andJullien'sTopographie de tout les Vignobles, are the authors the most in repute in France on the vine and on wine. The first and last can be had in Philadelphia; and ifRozier'smemoir is not to be found, as it is an old book, you can doubtless find at your French book stores, his Dictionary of Agriculture, 5 vols. in 4to. which, under the head ofVine, will give you all the information you desire.
"The district which produces the best wine, about Bordeaux, isMedoc. That county is divided into upper and lowerMedoc, lying between the Gironde and Garonne and the Bay of Biscay. It is much such a country, as to hill and dale, or general surface, as that between Philadelphia and Trenton, of a sandy, sandy-loam, and gravelly soil, with some few exceptions of small patches. About seven leagues from north to south, and three from east to west, of this district, is occupied with vineyards, which produce the best wine, whose expositions are from east to south.
"In this district, Lafitte, Chateau Margaux, Latour, Leoville, La Rose, Braune Mouton, and St. Julien, with various other qualities of Claret, are produced, which bring from $60 dollars the ton, of 4 hogsheads, (or 252 gallons,) to $600, according to the estimation they are held in. The vines in this district are not suffered to grow above three feet from the ground.
"Hautbriantis produced on a single estate of that name, lying in La Grave, about a league south of Bordeaux. The soil is sandy and gravelly; so much so that you would hardly suppose it capable of vegetation.
"The districts which produceSauterne,Barsac, andGravewines, lie from the skirts of the city south about four leagues, presenting much the same swell of surface as that part of New Jersey through which the mail runs between Trenton and Brunswick. The name of this district, (or, more properly speaking, the northern part of it,)Grave, denotes its soilGravier—Gravel. I have seen hundreds of acres of vines inGrave, growing in pebbles, from the size of a bean and nutmeg to that of an egg, without the least vestige of earth, cracking under foot, and filling one's shoes. Of the white wines of Bordeaux,Sauterne,Barsac, andCorbonnieuxare of the first quality; but there are many other growths which vie with them, and the ordinary qualities of these white wines are various. I have purchased good pleasant white wine at six dollars the cask of sixty-three gallons. The quantities sent to this country cost from $12 the cask to $40. Of the other wines you mention, I have no knowledge.
"It has been stated that two millions of acres are taken up in the cultivation of the vine, in France, producing, one year with another, five hogsheads of sixty-three gallons to the acre; which, at the moderateprice of fifty francs, or ten dollars, the hogshead, gives one hundred millions of dollars. This produce is immense; and, what renders it still more valuable is, that it does not lessen the quantity of other necessary productions, such as wheat, &c.; for where the vine generally growsin France, nothing else will grow: such is the poverty of the soil generally employed for vines.
"They have the wild vine in France. I have seen large quantities of it nearBayonne, and round the foot of the Pyrenees, up toPau: the inhabitants make beautiful hedges of it, and I have been assured by a distinguished naturalist, Mr. Pennieres, who is now in the Alabama territory, that some of the excellent grapes of France have been produced from the wild vine, after some years of careful cultivation. He is now engaged in inoculating our wild vines with those of France, from which he expects the most favourable results.
"I shall conclude these hasty observations by an extract fromRozier:
"'The vine is a plant whose transpiration andsuctionisabundantandvehement, which sufficiently indicates the soil and exposition natural to it. For this reason, grounds,composed of sand, gravel stones, and rotten rocks, are excellent for its cultivation.
"'Asandysoil producesa fine purewine. Thegravellyandstonya delicate wine. Rotten and broken rocks a fumy generous wine, of a superior quality.
"'A rich, strong, compact, cold or humid soil, which is pressed down by the rains, and which the sun hardens or bakes, is essentially prejudicial to the quality of the wine.
"'The most advantageous exposition for the vine is that of a gentle slope, or side of a hill, facing east and south, on which the rays of the sun continue the longest time.
"'Hills, in the neighbourhood of the ocean and rivers, ought to be preferred to all others.' The lower parts of these hills are not so favourable to the vine as the upper, and neither are equal to the middle region, the soil being the same.
"'All trees are unfriendly to the vine, as much from their roots as their shade. All who cultivate the vine, should remember this precept of Virgil:Apertos Bacchus amat colles.—The vine flourishes in the open unshaded hills.
"'In a word, the vine ought never to be planted in soils that can produce grain, &c. because it wants nothing but heat, and thrives best in the poorest ground. This will appear ridiculous to those who look forquantity: but as to the quality of the wine, it is in strict conformity with the laws of vegetation and with experience. I must be understood to speak here of countries only whose temperatures are favourable to the success of vineyards. We must except those in more northern latitudes. These general precepts admit of no exceptions: They will be acknowledged by all those who, with good faith, and free of prejudices, have studied the cultivation of the vine. If other modes and precepts are followed, we cannot answer for the age of the vine, or the quality of the wine.'"
These views of the locality, soils, and exposures of the fineBordeauxwines, such as the white, orSauterne, andvin de Grave, and the red or clarets, such asLa Fitte,Chateau Margaux, &c. will be left, for the present, on the public mind, with a firm confidence in their due impression, accompanied by the remarks that the difference between our temperatures, in our present wooded condition, and that of the south west of France, may be safely taken at eleven or twelve degrees; and that the progress of clearing lands and draining swamps will reduce that difference, in a few years, below ten degrees. Thus, St. Mary's, in Georgia, will ultimately prove about as warm, for vegetation, as Oporto in Portugal, and the productions of Europe, in any given latitude, may be found in, or, as we drain and clear, introduced into the United States, in latitudes nine or ten degrees farther south. The pride of all Europe is certainly the wines of the following places:
Champagne, in latitude49°N.in Europe equal to 39° to 40° in U. S.Burgundy,4838to39Old Hock wine.4939to40Bordeaux, Claret, & Sauterne.4535to36Best brandy of the wine grape: Bordeaux and Cogniac,4535to36The wine districts of Europe for the finest wines from Malaga and Xeres to Epernay, in Champagne36¾to4927¾to39or40_A Friend to the National Industry._PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 5, 1819.