KHENISH WINES.

65

of carbonate of soda, and note the violent effervescer.ee thatensues, immediately the alkali is added to the " sour stuff," aswell as the quantity of the alkaline carbonate that it is neces-sary to use before the effervescence ceases — or, in other words,before the integrant aeid is entirely neutralised in the so-calledwine. This, to those who know anything on the subjeet, willindubitably prove that they are tippling under the name of" Tisch-ivein" a mild verjuice, rather than hock—a kind ofvinous lemonade—a liquid that, like tea, certainly cannot besaid to "inebriate," but which, unlike it, cannot be said to"cheer" either—a pickle that may be excellent for youngladies who wish to thin themselves, but which is sad stomach-achey wash to gentlemen who like anything more generousthan a gargle with their dinner.

The fact is, the vineyards of Germany lie at the veryverge of the ivine-making countries. It is well known togeographers, that there are not only " snow-lines " and " heat-lines" belting the earth, but distinet zones of land for thegrowth of a certain kind of fruit, or a particular sort of vege-table, grain, or flower ; and as on ascending a tropical mountainthe traveller passes thermally through the several climatesof the globe, from the equator to the pole, even so hetraverses, at the same time, horticulturaUy and floriculturally,through distinet belts of fruits and flowers, the same as if hewere journeying along the world rather than above it.

" In order to obtain a potable wine," says Humboldt in hisKosmos (and the epithet, potable, should be well impressedon the reader's mind), " it is requisite that the mean annualtemperature should exceed 49° Fahrenheit, and that the wintertemperature should not be lower than 33°, whilst that of thesammer months should .exceed 64° : " for " in the plains of theBaltic," he teils us, " where a wine is produced that can scarcelybe called potable, the mean annual heat is 47° 5', that of the

VOL. II. F