EÜENISH WINKS.

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therefore people are gulled into thc belief that tho bleakmountain patches on the banks of the Mosel and the Rhine,as far down as Bonn, are capable of doing the like every year,even thougli tlie grapes be as hard and rough as bullaces totbe palate, and contain no more saccharine tlian sorrel. *

so that only one year's yield in ten can really be said to produce excellent wine,whilst very nearly half the years are acknowledged to produce lad wine.

In the present Century,

The very good years were, 1811, 1822, 1834, 1846 ; or only 4 in upwards ofhalf a Century.

The good years were, 1810, 1825, 182G, 1828, 1831, 1839, 1842, and 1848;or 8 in 56 years.

The "pretty good" years were, 1815, 1818, 1836, 1853 ; or 4 in 56 years.

The bad years, 1816,1817,1821, 1823, 1829, 1843, 1844, 1849, 1850, 1851,1854 ; or 11 in 56 years.

The years not particularized were merely "moderate" ones.

* The proportion of acid in the dirferent Rhenish wines depends upon, 1, Thekind of grapes ; and 2, The higher or lower degree of ripeness.

All grapes become sweet in very good years. The better the sort, the morefavourable the Situation, and the hotter thc summer—the sweeter and rieher ofalcohol the wine becomes.

The Eeesling grape is considered to yield the best wine with the finest aroma.But many vintners cultivate also a large quantity of the Kleinberger, Sylvaner,or some other kindr of second-rate grapes, to mix with the better kind. In theRheinpfalz, the Traminer grape is largely cultivated, and yields a pretty goodwine called "Forster Traminer;" but though the Traminer ripens early, andpossesses great sweetness, it has little perfume or "bouquet" connected withit : besides, this plant is more tender, being incapable of bearing the same lowtemperature as the Reesling and Kleinberger. The Sylvaner grape produces afine sweet wine, with considerable aroma, being indeed the kind of fruit fromwhich the celebrated Johannisberger is obtained ; but as this species contains alarge quantity of mueilage, it is not so easily pressed.

Good white-grape vines, however,*hre sometimes grown successfully (as atJohannisberg) in a " heavy and fat" Urne soil; but, as a rule, the white graperequires a lighter soil than the red, which thrives best in clayey ground.

Clay slate, of which the Rhine rocks are composed, has an excellent influenceon the growth of the vines ; not only beeause it absorbs and retains the heatof the noonday sun, as well as the moisture of the atmosphere, but on accountof its containing a large amount of potassium, which, as it decomposes andenters into the soil, is found to be most beneficial to the plant.