A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine/Introduction
INTRODUCTION.
IN the view of emigrating to New South Wales, the compiler of the following work was led into an examination of the circumstances of that colony, in the course of which, he was particularly struck with the relation in which it stands to the mother country.
Destitute of, or producing in a very inconsiderable degree, any article of produce which might minister to the wants or comforts of Great Britain, and, consequently, incapable of maintaining with her that regular and natural intercourse between a colony and its parent state, which consists in the exchange of the raw produce of the one, for the manufactured commodities of the other, New South Wales seems, till very lately, to have been chiefly dependent on the expenditure of the money of Great Britain, in the subsistence of felons transported to its shores, and in the pay of the establishments necessary for their management and controul; and has, consequently, been considered rather as a necessary and expensive appendage to the judicial institutions of the country, than a colony to which she might look for an extension of her power or an increase of her trade and resources.
Of late, however, the spirit of emigration has led thither many individuals and families, of a different description from that of which the bulk of the colony formerly consisted. Men of enterprise and industry have been induced to settle in the colony, by the expectation that the abundance of good land which would be granted to them without price, and almost without burdens, would repay the capital and industry engaged on it, better than the highly rented and taxed lands of their native country; or, than any other mode of investing their capital, and employing their industry, was capable of doing, where it had so much competition to contend with.
The number of the respectable portion of the community has also been increased, by the families and descendants of the original and successive officers of the military and civil establishments, who, pleased with the fineness of the climate, and, perhaps, influenced by motives similar to those of the emigrants, have relinquished the desire of returning home, for the prospects offered by a settlement in the colony; and lastly, by many of the reformed convicts, and their children, whose conduct entitles them to be considered respectable members of society.
The returns of population have, accordingly, for some time, shewn a considerable excess of free persons; and the formation of settlements in the North, for the removal of the convicts not necessary for the service of these, and of the government, with other arrangements, shew, that the interests of the former have become a subject of consideration, independently of the latter; and that the time has arrived, when New South Wales ought to be, and is, considered in a different light from what it was when it consisted only of convicts and their rulers
Agriculture has been said to be the natural and proper business of all new colonies. But this must have been said with reference to that agriculture, which has for its object the raising of some article of produce, over and above the consumption of the colonists, for exportation to the mother country, or to some other market where the price would afford a profit to the cultivators. Without such exportation, how were the colonists to obtain the numerous articles of manufacture indispensable in civilized life, and the not less numerous articles of luxury, which previous habit had made necessary to their comfort, much less to advance with those rapid strides to wealth and importance, which have, in all ages of the world, been the characteristics of new, colonies, planted in favourable situations?
That the situation of the colony of New South Wales has been unfavourable for the exportation of the surplus produce of those articles, to the raising of which, its agricultural industry has hitherto been confined, the late history, and present aspect of its agriculture, furnishes abundant proof.
As long as the demand of government was equal to the surplus produce of the country, the want of a foreign market was not felt; but when the demands of government, though increasing, ceased to bear any proportion to the increased number of cultivators, and it became impossible for each cultivator to dispose of the whole of his surplus produce to the commissariat, it was natural, that in the absence of any other internal market, he should look to another country for that demand which was no longer to be found at home. The distance of Great Britain made it impossible that he should there find a profitable market, even had the war price of agricultural produce continued. The Cape of Good Hope was looked to and tried, but there the competition of the Americans was too powerful for him to obtain a remunerating price; and, as was the natural consequence, his industry was cramped, and his fields left untilled:—nay, according to some accounts, his crops were allowed to perish on the field, because a glut of the market gave him no hopes that its sale would indemnifyhim for the expence of gathering it.
Perhaps, under any other circumstances, the effect of such an excess of produce, thrown on the markets of the colony, would have been to reduce prices so low as to occasion an indisposition, if not an inability to cultivate the following year, and famine might have followed in the train, and as the consequence of excessive production.
The regulations of the Governor in fixing the prices of produce at a rate which would repay with a profit the expence of production, has, to a great extent, prevented this misfortune, since the colony was capable of supplying itself. But the evils of an uncertain market have, nevertheless, been severely felt, and it is certainly more owing to these, than to either "the uncertainty of climate, or the carelessness of convict servants, that the colony has been under the necessity of importing grain from Van Diemen's Land, and even more lately from Valparaiso."[1]
Having such discouragements to struggle with, as well as the competition of the soil and climate of Van Diemen's Land, the superiority of which, for grain crops, has of
late attracted the greater number of settlers, and enabled them to undersell the farmer of New South Wales, even in his own market; it is not surprising that the raising of grain in the colony should be confined to the richest soils—that lands; which have been exhausted by the carelessness and incompetence of those who cultivated them, have been entirely neglected—and that the capital and industry of the colony should be directed to other channels.
The most considerable of these, and that which seems to possess, for the capitalist, the greatest inducement is sheep stock, for which the climate of the colony has proved favourable in an uncommon degree, and for which its unsettled districts afford an almost unlimited range.
The attention of some individuals has been turned to the coarser manufactures, but the labour employed in these, however convenient to the colony in its present circumstances, is rather a bar to its trade with other countries, as the high price of labour, the want of skill which experience gives, and of improvements which an extensive capital can alone render available, must enhance the
price of the commodities too much, to allow of their being an article of export.
This remark is, of course, not applicable to very coarse and bulky articles, and perhaps is not applicable at all to the colony in its present state, from the difficulty in directing that labour to the raising of produce, exchangeable for these manufactures with a country whose facilities for manufacturing were greater.
Accordingly, the production of fine wool has been stated, by the commissioner of enquiry, Mr. Bigge, to be "the principal, if not the only source of productive indústry within the colony, from which the settlers can derive the means of repaying the advances made to them by the mother country, or supplying their own demands for articles of foreign manufacture."
The chief obstacle to the extension of sheep stock, is the expence of transporting the wool to the place of embarkation, from those stations which are at a distance from it. This obstacle must increase in magnitude, with the increase of the flocks and their consequent distance in the interior; and this distance must soon be very great, as the virtual occupation of 9000 acres of land is stated not to enable Mr, M'Arthur to maintain more than 7000 sheep.
The sinking hopes of those, who depended on the tillage of the soil, have been considerably revived by the late permission to distil spirits from grain in the colony; and there cannot be a doubt, that agricultural industry will thence receive a new impulse; but the benefits derivable from this permission, are of a limited nature.
It will, no doubt, increase the demand for grain, and, consequently, its production; and it will have the very important effect of shielding the colonists from, or at least of mitigating the effects of, a failure of crops. It will also render available, within the colony, a part of that capital which was sent out of it for the purchase of foreign spirits; and these, so far as they go, are benefits of the first importance. But the consumption of this spirit is limited to the colony, and, as to a foreign market, is precisely in the same situation with the grain itself.
Its greatest effects will be to increase, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, the quantity of land in cultivation to the extent necessary for supplying this additional produce of spirits. It will enable the colonist to render available his own soil, for a certain portion of his wants which formerly diminished the limited returns which the limited market for his produce afforded. But here its influence will stop, and its advantages will bear no comparison with that employment for labour and capital, the demand for which is unlimited, because the demand for its products is only limited by the power of production.
It will operate on the prosperity of the colony, as those medicines on the human frame, which (the cure being beyond the power of the physician) are administered to alleviate present pain, and protract the period of that dissolution they cannot prevent.
From a consideration of these circumstances, and under a strong impression of the importance to the colony of an increase of its exportable commodities, the compiler of the following work was induced to spend some months in the best wine districts of France, with a view of acquainting himself with the cultivation of the vine for the making of wine, and having the power to ascertain to what extent it might be profitably cultivated in New South Wales
The result of the investigations which he made, relative to this subject was, a conviction on his mind, that there was the strongest probability, not of its partial success, but of its supplying the great desiderarum of a staple article of export, to which the colonists of New South Wales might be indebted for their future prosperity.
This conviction was founded, in the first place, on a consideration of the profits derived from the cultivation of vineyards, the value which this culture gives to lands favourable for it over those employed in any other species of agriculture, and its importance in the rural economy of countries where it is most generally and extensively established;—in the second place, on the probability that the climate of New South Wales, and many of its soils; at present useless from their sterlity, would be favourable for the culture of the vine;—and in the third place, on its being a culture, for the products of which, an extensive market might be found.
In visiting, and attentively observing, some of the most celebrated wine districts in the south of France, the compiler of the following work found every soil, which by its nature or situation was favourable for the cultivation of the vine, exclusively devoted to that purpose; and to many of these it had given a value which made him doubt very strongly of the information he received, though from most respectable sources, till he had an opportunity of confirming its correctness, by the corresponding notes of that acute and accurate observer, Mr. Arthur Young, and by the later work of the Count de Chaptal.
In the neighbourhood of Cadillac, a small town on the right bank of the Garonne, where the compiler for some time resided, a vineyard was for sale, which had been for many years in a state of decay, from the sons of the former proprietor having been in the army at the time of his death, and shewing, on their return home little industry, or inclination to cultivate for their common advantage, what had fallen to them in equal right. Its extent was 40 journeaux of Cadillac, which is equal to about 27 and one-third English acres. The buildings on it could sot much exceed £100 in value. The price demanded was 45,000 francs, 40.000 had been offered. The medium price 42,500, or £1770 16s. sterling, is £65, or, allowing £100 for buildings, £62 an English acre nearly. At this price, one of the best judges of the country, the mayor of Cadillac, affirmed, that if the purchaser possessed skill and capital to do it justice, it ought to repay him his purchase money in six years, though by that time it could hardly be brought to the high state of cultivation in which it was kept by the father of the present proprietors
Cadillac is not famous for the quality of its wines, but on the opposite side of the river, Sauterne, Barsac, and Preignac, produce the famous white wines which go by their names; and here, as might be expected, the first soils reach a still higher value. The Journal of Barsac contains only a very small fraction more than half an English acre, and yet it cannot be purchased for less than 2,000 francs, or £160 an English acre.
Conversing, one day, with a considerable proprietor, on the value of vineyards, the compiler was informed by him, that on one occasion he had sold the produce of a vineyard in Sainte Croix, of 10½ acres in extent or 12,000 francs. He acknowledged that a lifetime might elapse before another such vintage would occur; but said that instances were not wanting of a still greater produce; mentioning one near Lafitte, in the district of Medoc, where the best claret wines are made, for which 100,000 francs (£4166 sterling) had been refused, and of which, one year's produce had been known to bring 30,000 francs, and yet this vineyard did not exceed six English acres in extent. Its excessive value was owing to its possessing, in a very uncommon degree, the rare property of producing in large quantities without deteriorating the quality of the produce.
According to Young, the whole district which produces the famous Champagne wines is included in five leagues' length. As an average of the value of vineyards in this district, the price of an acre is stated at 3,000 francs, and the nett annual profit, including rent (for throughout France every proprietor cultivates his own vines), at £14 18s. 4d. sterling, being 10 per cent. on that sum.
In his first work on the vine, published in 1801, not very long after Young's tour, the Count de Chaptal states, that when vines are cultivated extensively, and with an abundant capital, they pay from 9to 12 per cent, on the money expended.
Young's notes give £61 8s. as the average value of an acre of vines for all France: but, leaving out of his estimate all which exceed £100 in value, and £21 in produce, he fixes the average value of vines in France at £45 an acres and their gross annual produce at £9 2s. being one-fifth of their fee simple.
By the following table, he shews, the proportional value of the produce of vineyards, to that of soils under other culture, and also the proportional rent or profit which they yield.
| Arable Land, | 70,000,000 | acres at | 40 | francs | £122,800,583 |
| Vines, | 5,000,000 | " | 175 | " | 38,225,250 |
| Woods, | 19,850,000 | " | 16 | " | 13,895,360 |
| Meadow, and rich pasture, | 4,000,000 | " | 100 | " | 17,500,000 |
| Lucerne, &c. | 5,000,000 | " | 100 | " | 21,875,000 |
| Pastures & Wastes, | 27,150,000 | " | 10 | " | 11,878,125 |
| Total | 131,000,000 | acres | £226,238,313 |
| Arable and Lucerne, | 75,000,000 | acres at | £0 | 15s. | 7d. - - - | £57,437,500 |
| Woods, | 19,850,000 | " | 0 | 12s. | 0d. - - - | 11,910,000 |
| Vines, | 5,000,000 | " | 8 | 16s. | 6d. - - - | 19,125,000 |
| Meadow, | 4,000,000 | " | 2 | 3s. | 9d. - - - | 8,750,000 |
| Wastes, | 27,150,000 | " | 0 | 1s, | 9d. - - - | 2,375,025 |
| Total, - 131,000,000 | £99,898,125 | |||||
Without possessing, of himself, the same ample data which Mr. Young's extensive tour gave him, for determining the value of an acre of vines at the present day, the compiler is enabled to copy, from the preface to the Count de Chaptal's last work, a table shewing the state of the culture of the vine, and the quantity of wine produced, which he conceives confirms very strongly the truth of Mr. Young's calculation. The prices are fixed at the very lowest prices of commerce, even in years of the greatest abundance.
The extent of soil under the vine in France, as established by the administration of indirect contributions in 1809, was 1,613,939 hectares, and the produce on an average of five years, 35,358,890 hectolitres of wine. The prices as under:—
| 10,500,000 | hectolitres at | 7 | francs, 50 cents | 78,750,000 | francs. |
| 4,600,000 | 10 | 40,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 8,400,000 | 15 | 51,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 2,300,000 | 20 | 46,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 2,000,000 | 25 | 50,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 1,700,000 | 30 | 51,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 1,600,000 | 35 | 56,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 1,500,000 | 40 | 60,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 1,600,000 | 50 | 80,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 800,000 | 200 | 160,000,000 | francs.—— | ||
| 30,000,000 | hectolitres | 678,000,000 | francs. |
The remaining 5,358,890 are supposed to be employed in distillation, they are of a middling quality, but taken at the lowest price, 7 francs 50 cents they give 40,191,675 which added to the above, makes 718,941,67S francs.
In 1817, the quantity of land under the vine had increased to 1,977,000 hectares, and the quantity of wine taken at the same rate of increase will be 43,312,991 hectolitres, and its value calculated as before, 880,670,020 francs, or £36,694,584 sterling.
The hectare contains 2·3444 English acres, and the hectolitre 26·49 English gallons, so that the extent of land is 4,634,878, and the quantity of wine 1,147,361,231 gallons, being 247½ an acre, and at the price of 7 67d, or rather less than 7½d. a gallon, its gross produce is, £7 18s. 4d. sterling, an acre.
The quantity of land is rather less than it was estimated at by Young, though it has increased since his time, but it was not then ascertained by authority.
"We must not fail to observe," says Chaptal, "that these are the very lowest prices of wine, even in years of the greatest abundance, and that the truth would not be exceeded, were the amount carried to 1,000,000,000 francs." At this price, it comes so very near the estimated produce of Young, that there can be little doubt his calculation of £45 an acre is near the average value of vines in France at present, if the principles on which he establishes the relative value of soils and produce are correct.
"To form a correct idea," continues Chaptal, "of the advantages France draws from her vineyards, it is necessary to take into account, that four-fifths of the soil consecrated to the vine, would remain uncultivated without it. The poorest soils are peculiarly adapted for producing good wines, and the most renowned vineyards which are worth, under this culture, from 10,000, to 15,000 francs an arpent,[2] would be, without it, destitute of value."
At the time Mr. Young made the calculations referred to, he estimated the gross produce of the cultivated land in England, at 50s. an acre. In 1814, sir John Sinclair estimated the gross produce of cultivated lands in Scotland, at £4 4s; and in 1812, Colquhoun made his estimate of the lands and agricultural property in Great Britain, in which he fixes the average value of an acre of cultivated land at £24 sterling.
| Gardens and Nurseries, | 20,000 acres at £70 | £1,400,000 |
| Lands highly cultivated in the vicinity of large towns, | 500,00050 | 25,000,000 |
| Hop Grounds | 100,00040 | 4,000,000 |
| Lands cultivated, of a superior quality, | 12,000,00030 | 360,000,000 |
| Lands cultivated, of an inferior quality, | 18,000,00020 | 360,000,000 |
| £750,400,000 | ||
| Uncultivated lands and wastes in England and Wales 6,714,400, acres at £15. | ||
It will be seen by the above table, that only a very few lands favoured by their situation, bear any comparison in value with the vineyards of France; what then are we to think of that culture, which gives to such vast extent of the waste lands of a country, value not attained by the richest soils of other countries where the climate is unfavourable for it, with the exception of a very few in favourable situations?
It is not surprising that so lucrative a branch of rural economy, and one which, besides the internal and foreign commerce it gives rise to (decidedly the most extensive of any in France), is understood to yield to the government of the country, a revenue at least as much exceeding that derived from any other branch of agricultural industry, as the profits of vineyards to the proprietors exceed those of other soils, should be considered as one of the very first sources of the wealth of France, and that its improvement should be considered of the first importance. Accordingly, in the latter half of the last century, upwards of thirty French writers have published works on the improvement of the cultivation of the vine, and the making of wine.
The compiler is not aware to what extent, in other wine countries, this subject has employed the pens of scientific men; nor has he had any opportunity of ascertaining its relative importance in their rural code; but if it be true, as has been said, that fifteen-sixteenths of the vineyards of Portugal are cultivated with British capital, and that the same is the case, to certain extent, with those of Sicily it may reasonably be concluded, that these capitals were not invested in the soil of a foreign land, without the certainty of a very handsome return: and that it is not in France alone that the vine is a source of wealth.
With regard to climate and soil. Those climates which are favourable for the culture of the vine in the northern hemisphere, are found to lie between the 50th and 35th degree of latitude; and it is between these parallels that the most famous wines are produced. The latitude of a great part of New South Wales is within the 35th degree, but when the difference of temperature at the same degree of latitude in the two hemispheres is considered, it will be found to correspond nearly with those countries which are in the middle of the vinous latitudes of the north. A proof of the fitness of the climate might also be urged, in the success which has attended the introduction of the fruits of wine countries, and even of the grape itself; though many climates bring the grape to perfection as a fruit for the table, which nevertheless do not impress upon it the characters peculiar to those grapes, from which good wines are made. But, the Cape of Good Hope is in the same latitude[3] as New South Wales, and 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 consideration, in a national point of view, to what extent the advantages, which, during the war, Great Britain derived from London being the depot of many thousand tons of wines, destined for the Indian and other markets; and by the carrying trade[4] of those wines which her shipping then enjoyed, might be restored to the country, by the successful cultivation of the vine in New South Wales. Its first effects would be, that the ships which go out with convicts and emigrants would obtain a freight home; or, instead of going in ballast to seek a return cargo in India, might carry thither a cargo of wines. From this it would result, that government might obtain ships for the transportation of convicts at a cheaper rate, and that emigrants might obtain a cheaper passage with equal profit to the ship owners.
It were superfluous to go about to prove, that an extensive and profitable investment for capital, and employment for labour, would increase the resources of the colony, and consequently its intercourse with Great Britain;—that, in its altered circumstances, it would present a more extended, and increasing, market for her manufactures;—and that the bond of union, between the colony and the mother country, would be strengthened by the colonists having the means of employing their industry, and the advantages of their climate in a way not interfering with the mother country in her manufactures or commerce; but which, while it afforded new channels for the latter, would make it their interest to prefer her manufactures to those which, in their present circumstances, are springing up among themselves.
That the cultivators of the Cape have not succeeded, in any considerable degree, in producing wines to the taste of Indian consumers, is no reason why those of New South Wales should be unsuccessful, tot vina quot agri, says Pliny, who, among other illustrious men of ancient times, treated of this subject; and this is a truth, which the extension of the vine over Europe, has only more extensive proved: and it is not less true, that the differences of cultivation and management, produce as great diversities in the wine, as the differences of soil and situation. The first planters of the Cape, came from a country, the very reverse in its nature of one fit for the culture of the vine; and it is natural to suppose, that many of them, ignorant of its cultivation, applied to it the maxims of an agriculture, which might be excellent for raising corn crops on the damp and rich soils of Holland, but which, when applied to the culture of the vine on the hills the Cape, were the very reverse of those by which a cultivator, well acquainted with the subject, would be guided.
The wine boers of the Cape have, besides, been accused of carelessness in the making of their wines, and the distillation of their brandies; and to one, who is acquainted with the peculiar care and management in the cultivation of the plant, which is necessary to preserve the most advantageous proportion among the different vegetable principles in the fruit, and with the solicitude with which the fermentation of the best wines, and the distillation of the best brandies is conducted, it ceases to be a matter of surprise, that the generality of Cape wines, made under such circumstances, are so much inferior to those of older wine countries.
The greater part of the information contained in the following treatise, is derived from the work of the Count de Chaptal, published at Paris in 1819. The name of Chaptal stands among the highest in general science; to him the world is indebted for many valuable works, and particularly for his "Chemistry applied to the Arts." His country (in which he for some time filled the post of minister of the interior), is under more particular obligations, for the attention he bestowed on the subject of this work, so important to her interest, and which has procured for him there the title of "Legislator of Vinification."
It had been the fault of most preceding writers on this subject, to prescribe, as proper for every soil and climate, a system of management which had been found the best in one particular district. It was the object of Chaptal, to examine the different methods of procedure in different districts, with reference to the general principles of chemical science—to ascertain what was due to the influence of climate, seasons, soil, exposure, and culture on the plant—to explain the nature of each of the substances which is contained in the juice of the grape, and the influence exercised by it on fermentation, and its result; and thence, to deduce general principles, by the application of which, to the circumstances in which he found himself placed, each cultivator wrought from rules for his guidance.
It was the compiler's wish to present, as shortly as possible, in the following pages, the information necessary to enable any person to commence, and conduct, the operations of the vineyard and wine cellar, as far as written instructions were capable of doing so. He has, therefore, abstained from following Chaptal into historical details and disquisitions, not immediately related to the subject in hand. He was also anxious to notice the opinions of contemporary writers where they are different: and lastly, from the generalizing nature of Chaptal's work, he was obliged to have recourse to other authors for practical details not furnished by him: and to his own notes[5] for some of these, which, to an author writing for the improvement of his subject, might seem superfluous, but which he, considering himself as writing for those who were entirely ignorant of it, could not but deem essential.
He has not, therefore, exactly followed Chaptal's arrangement, and has in many cases used his own language. The important chapters on fermentation, however, are either a liberal translation, or a careful abridgment from his work: and he, therefore, hopes he has avoided any considerable error into which he might have been betrayed, by having but a limited acquaintance with chemistry.
Whatever other errors the work may contain, he trusts that they are not of a nature seriously to mislead any one who is guided by it; and trusting to the importance of the matter, rather than to the manner in which it is treated, he submits it to the colonists of New South Wales, entreating for it, in the absence of any other English work on the subject, the candid consideration of the advantages which may result from it as it is, to balance the defects, which may distinguish it from what, in abler hands, it might have been.
- ↑ This introduction was written during the passage to the colony, in December 1823. If its principles required illustration or proof, none could be afforded, better than the state of the corn ,market in the colony since that period. For some months after the harvest of 1828, the price of wheat did not exceed 3s. 6d. or 4s. a bushel, and at that price it was most difficult to find a market for it. It is said, that some of the more distant settlers actually fed their hogs with it. It is at all events certain, that mach was wasted. About four or five months before the harvest of 1824, apprehensions of a scarcity began to be entertained, and in the course of six weeks, or two months, large quantities of wheat, imported from Van Diemen's Land, sold at 20s. and 21s. a bushel.
The government who have for some time obtained supplies by tender, were now loudly complained of for not paying a higher price, and supporting the previous artificial system. It is considered in the colony, that 3s. 6d. or 4s. is, under few circumstances, a remunerating price, but though, by paying a higher price than it was possible to procure it for by tender, the price of wheat might have been supported and less waste have taken place. Still, as long as the commissariat did not purchase all the surplus produce of each cultivator, not disposable in the market, the evil could only be imperfectly and temporarily remedied.
The colony has certainly reached that degree of advancement, and the extent of cleared and cultivated land in proportion to the number of inhabitants is so considerable, that the considerations which made it the wisest policy of government to maintain the prices of produce in its earlier stages, have ceased to exist.
At a time, then, when the impolicy of the interference of government, in directing the industry of any class of the community to other channels than those to which the interests of the parties would naturally lead them, has been so generally recognized, and so extensively acted upon by the legislature at home, it is scarcely to be expected by the colonist of New South Wales, that artificial inducements are to be held out to his industry in the form of a bounty on the growth of wheat, even though it were possible so to distribute the benefits of it, that there should be no no real or apparent ground for murmuring.
It appears to me, that there is even much room to doubt, whether the payment of a high price, by the commissariat, would be really advantageous to the settler. At no very distant period, the stimulus afforded by it must be withdrawn, and the re-action felt; and its evident tendency, in the meantime, would be to keep the settler from seeking out other objects of industry, and ascertaining the real grounds on which his ultimate prosperity must rest.
For a steady remunerating price of wheat, and, consequently, regular supply of the market, there can be hope till some other production of the soil is raised, which shall share with it the
industry of the settler, and supply what it has been found incapable of doing, a profitable article of export. And it is probable, that £1000 expended by government in bringing such an article to the notice of the colonist, would be attended with mere real and permanent advantage, than £50,000 in holstering up an artificial price of wheat. - ↑ The arpent of France, contains 1·185, or 1 and 1-5th English acres nearly.
- ↑ The compiler is aware that other circumstances, besides mere position on the surface of the globe, must be considered as forming climates: but, he conceives that these circumstances as relating to New South Wales, are not sufficiently ascertained to allow of any thing being founded upon them.
- ↑ See evidence of C. L. Tavernier, John Hall, and John Gowan, Esquires, in the Report of the House of Lords, on Foreign Trad (Silk and Wine Trade), ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 1821.
- ↑ The compiler is happy to acknowledge himself indebted to the kindness of a gentleman of high rank in the colony, for the first work of Chaptal, in which, the practical matters here alluded to, are treated in detail by M. Dussieux, of the Society of Agriculture at Paris. He has been, of course, less under the necessity of referring to his own notes, in which, from want of experience, he could not altogether confide. He has, also, in preparing the work for the press, retrenched many notices from various authors, from the necessity of keeping the work in small bounds; and from a persuasion, that most of them might be brought under some one of the general principles established by Chaptal.