It is not within the scope of this work to enter into the details of vine planting, or to point out what particular varieties of grapes should be planted in the different sections, and probably the time to produce a work which would convey definite and satisfactory information on the latter subject has not yet arrived. As fast as reliable information is acquired, it will undoubtedly be made known by the Commission, and every intended vine grower should carefully study its reports, as well as to keep himself familiar with the discussions of the local viticultural societies, and those of the general conventions.
If every grower in the State will only devote a portion of his ground to the cultivation of the choicest varieties of grapes, making sure that he knows what he is cultivating, will use the best methods of vinification, preserve each kind of wine by itself, or keep a careful record of his blends, and will age and rear the different products according to the best and most intelligent methods, the writer confidently expects that favored spots will be found in time which will produce wines that will compare favorably with the fine wines of Europe; and we may even venture to hope that some lucky individual will find that he is possessed of a vineyard that will make his name famous as the producer of a grand wine equal to the most renowned wines of the world.
The writer lays claim to but very little originality in the following pages. What the intended wine maker wants is not new, untried theories, but the results of the experience of others who have already labored in the field, in order that he may not spend his time in inventing methods which, later he learns, have already been tried by the laborers before him.
In this connection, the author makes his acknowledgments to the following authors and their productions, as well as to others mentioned in the body of the work. And if, in some cases, he has failed to give credit where it is due, it is because the information remains, but the source is forgotten.
A. Du Breuil, Les Vignobles et les Arbres et Fruits à Cidre, Paris, 1875.
Dr. Jules Guyot, Culture de la Vigne et Vinification, Paris, 1861.
Henri Machard, Traité Pratique sur les Vins, Bensançon, 1874.
Raimond Boireau, Culture de la Vigne, Traitement des Vins, Vinification, Distillation, etc., 2 vols., Bordeaux, 1876.
A. Haraszthy, Grape Culture, Wines, and Wine Making, New York, 1862, including translations of Johann Carl Leuchs on Wine Making, and Dr. L. Gall, Improvement in Wine Making.
L. Pasteur, on Fermentation, Annales de Chimie, 3 Series, Vol. LVIII, p. 330.