The United States Commission at the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1867 appointed a committee, composed of Marshall P. Wilder, Alexander Thompson, William J. Flagg, and Patrick Barry, to report on the culture and products of the vine. The report is given in the monthly publication of the Department of Agriculture, but with some typographical errors corrected we give the report almost entire, as we consider it of great value. Although the committee embraced four members, we believe the main credit of attending to the interests of our country on this subject is due to Messrs. Wilder and Barry, whose knowledge of the great interest felt by our people in the culture of the grape induced them to make extra exertions and obtain a special committee for examination and comparison of our American products with those of other countries.

"The exhibition of wines at the Universal Exposition of 1867 was large. Every wine-growing country of Europe, as well as Australia, Canada, California, and other sections of North and South America, were represented. As there were no jurors from the United States, our American-wines were not subjected to so full and'fair an examination as they were entitled to, and to remedy this omission a special committee, consisting of the undersigned, was appointed by the Board of Commissioners to make an examination of the wines of our own and other countries, and to report especially with reference to wine-making in America.

"As regards French wines, full reliance can not be placed on what is furnished to the American traveler at hotels or cafes, or even what is sold him at the shops, no matter what price he pays. It would, however, be doing French wines a great injustice to judge them by the qualities sold in this way, or exported to America. The great body of American consumers have palates as yet so unskilled, and the merchants of Bordeaux, and fabricators: and imitators are so adroit, that it seems impossible for the honest wine maker here to come into such relations with the wine drinkers there as shall secure to the latter the benefits, sanitary and moral, which the French people themselves derive from the pure juice of the grape so abundantly produced in this country. It is not an unusual practice for dealers to buy of producers in the back country a coarse, deep red wine for 30 cents per gallon, and a strong white wine for 45 cents per gallon, mix and bottle them, and send them abroad labeled with all the high-sounding names of Medoc,' to sell at enormous profits to unsuspecting foreigners.

"Farther south than Bordeaux, in the country about Montpelier and Bezires, an inferior article, but perfectly pure, can be obtained of the producer at five and six cents per gallon, or one cent per bottle. Of late years, and since the abatement of the grape disease, the production of France has been very large, the 4,000,000 of acres in cultivation yielding an average of 1,200,000,000 of gallons, which would give to every man, woman, and child in the country a half bottle-full every day, even after allowing 200,000,000 of gallons for exportation.

"Hungary, whose product is second to that of France only, can supply a wide range of varieties, and at prices extremely reasonable. As the Hungarian producers seem to know, as yet, but little of chemistry, we suppose their wines to be generally pure.

"Besides the sherry, of which we consume so largely, Spain has an abundant and rich vintage with which American consumers would be better acquainted if her merchants had more of the enterprise of those of Bordeaux.

"Portugal also produces plenty of excellent and pure wines of which we know little, for hardly a drop is allowed to leave the country without being so strongly brandied as to lose its character as a wine, and become rather a spirituous liquor. Port wine is repeatedly dosed with spirits until it contains at least as much as 24 per cent. of alcohol. Fifteen years' age is required before it is fit to drink, not because the wine is slow to ripen, but because the spirit needs to remain fifteen years before the disturbance it causes can subside, and the antagonistic ingredients of the mixture harmonize.

"Notwithstanding bold and persistent assertions to the contrary, it has been satisfactorily proven to your committee that the adulteration is made, not to preserve the wine, but solely to make it sweet and stimulating.

"As America is destined to become a great wine-producing country, her people ought to be better acquainted than they are with the higher grades of foreign wines, but they have as yet drunk so little of these, that their standard of excellence remains comparatively low. Now, except in California, none of the European vines will grow in America, and we are compelled to search in our forests, and develop in nurseries and vineyards the varieties which are in the future to be our reliance for competing with foreign producers, and finally, it is to be hoped, emancipating ourselves from them altogether. Of course, then, the higher our standard of taste is, that is, the higher our aim, the better will be our success.

"Our American vineyards compare very well with those of France, and so do our cellars, presses, and casks.

Culture Of The Vine In Europe #1

[Continued From July Number.]