72

DOMESTIC MANNEES OF TUE TEDSSIANS.

the " Blessed Virgin's Milk " itself will be found to be turned,and the " Dragon's Blood" to be sour enough to curdleevery drop of one's own: so that after a time the simpleopening of a bottle of the far-famed Zeltinger will be suf-ficient, to the knowing, to fill the mouth with water, likethe cutting of a lemon; and a mere thimble-full of Braune-berger enough to set the teeth on edge like the sharpening of asaw.

Now Germans delight in "Essig" —their very childrenloving sours as much as ours do sweets. Indeed we knewa little Rhenish girl of two years old who made wry facesat sugar - stuff, and smacked her tiny lips over pickles;and, moreover, a servant-girl whom we brought with us toEngland hegan to fall ill, after a short time, for want of thenational sharp sauces and the congenial dash of sour stuffwith her food. To such palates, therefore, the produets ofthe acetous fermentation are naturally more agreeable than

stock of cattle sufficient to supply him with manure, as well as uses the youngplantations to eultivate beet-root and beans, or some kind of fodder for hiscattle, or food for himself and family.

The wealtbier vintners, however, generally obtain a better price than thatabove given for their produce, owing, not only to the more careful eultivation ofthe vines, but to the fact of their having better land, as well as being able toavail themselves of every circumstance that may add to the value of their pro-duce.

In the Rheingau and in the Ahr, the vineyards are mostly in the possession oflarge and rieh proprietors. On the Mittelrhein and Mosel, however, theygenerally belong to, or are worked by, small peasants. The latter are mostly in avery distressed condition, being too poor to speculate on the results of the harvest,as the rieh proprietors do; so that the returns of the vintage often do not Coverthe cost of produetion, and an indescribable amount of misery frequently pre-vails among the class. When the vineyard is let to a peasant, the proprietorgenerally bears the expense of all large buildings, and contributes 1*. 9d. perhundred plants towards the expense of manuring. For this he mostly takes'a certain share of the grapes, and has the right of choosing the vessels in whichthey are kept.

The above information has been kindly furnished by Dr. Wirtgen of Coblenz,and Dr. Arnoldi of Winnigen.