Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/34

 the Cape possesses the, vineyards of Constantia, thạn which, we need not go farther for, proofs of the suitableness of the climate for the production of the finest wines, or the capacity of vineyards, when favourably situated and cultivated with care, for enriching their owners.

Of the fitness of soil, perhaps nothing can be said here more to the purpose than one of the concluding sentences of that section of the first chapter, which treats on soils. "From what has been said, it may be concluded, that the vine may be advantageously cultivated in a great variety of soils. The conclusion may even be drawn, that the intrinsic nature of the soil is of less importance, than that it should be porous, free, and light."

With regard to a market for the produce, the distance of Great Britain from the colony might, at first sight, encourage the belief that wine would not bear the expence of conveyance to that country, and perhaps this might be true of inferior wines; but, besides that, these could be converted into brandies. New South Wales possesses, from its situation, peculiar advantages, in competing with those countries which supply the Indian market, for which, as appears by the evidence before the House of Lords on foreign trade, the demand was never so great as of late.

And perhaps it might be worthy of