EHENISH AVINES.

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tlie wine-growing districts of the Rinne are, thermally, but onedegree superior to those of the Baltic, wliere the juice obtainedfrom the grapes is said to lie at the very extreme of potability,or, more graphically speaking—on the verge of verjuice.

The consequence is, that though the vineyards in thesunniest situations on the banks of the Rhine may producegood wine in warm seasons, nevertheless, in milder years,it is obvious, that the grapes, in those Weingartens which havea less directly southern aspect, and lipon which the noondayrays fall obliquely rather than " füll butt," cannot be ripenedsufficiently for the juice to be " potable " by really educatedpalates; or, indeed, for the liquor yielded by them to havethe faintest vinous quality.*

perature of different localities, since the average yearly hcat of Cherbourg is52° 1', and Frankfort only 49° 5'. Neither is it regulated by tbe mean autumnaltemperature, that of Cherbourg being 54° 3', and that of Frankfort 49° 4'. Theheat of summer, indeed, appears to be the main circumstance ; for the abovetable shows, that when the summer heat is below 70° the wine has a " hock"character, and when below 64° it is barely " potable," whilst below 63° no wineat all is produced.

" A hot year, with occasional showers, gives better grapes than a hot dryyear. The best wine of the present Century was produced under greatsummer-heat, as well as in connexion with frerpient thunder-showers, whichmoistened the earth almost every night. A moderate and a bad year for theRhenish vintage is the result not only of a low degree of summer temperature,but of the untimely advent of the hot and rainy days. Tlius the year 1848 wasnot particularly hot, but the weather was warm at the time of the blooming; thisafterwards changed to fine light showery rains, whilst at the time of the ripeningthe season became warm again ; so that the result was a good year. Theweather for a good vintage should be hot in June, in July hot with thunder-showers, in August the same, and in September warm and dry."— Observa-tions on the Growth of the Vine, kindly furnished by Dr. Wirtgen, thecelcbrated botanist of Coblenz.

* The Rhenish vineyards are mostly situate on the southern slope of themountains, or in such a position that they may be exposed to the beams of thesun during the greater part of the day ; but only in the best situations, and underthe Screening of the neighbouring mountains, even with afull southern exposure,can any wine be produced at more than 500 feet above the Rhine. Generallyspeaking, it is unusual in Rhineland to plant vineyards in plains, because in such

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