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    THE VINE DISEASE AND PKICK. OF WINE.

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    that the Corporation of London , as at present constituted , will take effective measures for the reinoval . of the danger , is simply to suppose what the experience , of every day sliows to be visionary und futile t those who expect extrinsic aid to get them put ot t ! r > ir difficulties , must themselves use exertion and labour in their own cause ; and ia this case more especially does it behove them to lose no time in their efforts , if they wish to escape the certain p-nalties which await upon delay and slbthfulness . The Report proceeds to say : " We have found two hundred and fifty vaults in the City churches ; there is reason to believe that the number of coffins is -about eleven thousand , besides which there are hundreds of bodies in- the graves ot the aisles

    and porches . The air , charged with the effluvia arising from all this , must escape , and is either diffused into the atmosphere of . the church , or-passes "by the ventilating openings into the public wav , of which there are a hundred and twenty in the City . It is to ' be . hoped that the recent disclosures will arouse the mhibitants to a sense of their present clanger , and that they will also be put on their guard against certain plans ( something more than rumour indicates ) about to be suggested , which , it not vehemently and at once opposed , are likely to-bring plague and pestilence , with " The painful family of death , ^ More hideous than their queen , "

    into the very heart of this labyrinth-of bricks and mortar , and produce a Catastrophe compared to which a European war or an invasion of our coasts would be of secondary importance , - The Report next informs us that means have been adopted to meet the danger , as far as the p ower possessed by the medical officer of health extends , and that , to a certain extent , they are satisfactory ; but speaks in no very encouraging terms of the prospect presented by the general state of things , which requires much greater capacity for their total annihilation than is intrusted to any city functionary . . Dr , Letheby asserts also , that -it . - Jim been yrojiosed on . more t / ian one occatheni fhe ub

    tdnu to utilize the burial-gromuh , Tntd uake- sjects of building s ]) ecnl . aUon » : " ¦ In _ point of fact the same ' influences which have operated in bringing the grave yards of this metropolis into their present condition , and in using the sanctuary for a charnel-house ,, may again act without concern for the living or respect for . dead , in turning to a profitable account the unused burial-places of the city . But it ^ is my duty to warn you that this cannot be done with impunity . " We trust we have said enough to , make the citizens look about them ; we mean no disrespect for the incumbents of the city benefices , but in whatever way and to whatever end the proposed amalgamation of the city benefices be brought about , it will , we hope , fail in disturbing the remains of the dead to the destruction of the living . We would , in

    all <> -ood feeling for the clerical character suggest that the respect due towards it from the laity of the country will not be increased by what right-minded friends ( as well as enemies ) of religion will regard as an affection for pounds , shillings , and pence , at the expense of tin ; health ami the lives of their flocks . A few months buck , London was shocked by the deplorable and disgusting scenes which took , place in Pratt Street , Camdcn Town , in a burial-ground sold for building purposes , when bodies wore exhumed in cart Jonds , and , when public indignation not unnaturally was developed into riots , which but for the timely interference of a host of police would have had fearful consequences ; and we trust we shall not again become spectators of such revolting outrages , or historians of such lamentable conjH'ciueuce . s of stony hearted and unreasoning cupidity .

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    rnilE grape blight , according to the official nypoi-ts , nuulo its first X - uppimr . uiuu in Franco in 1850 , when it infected some vineyards in the neighbourhood of Farm . In 1851 it became general throughout Franco , iincl attained its maximum of intensity in 1854 , ¦ It began to decline in 1855 , and in 1858 was overcome . The di touso was obsorvod in England an early as 1845 , and was named ultor the gentleman who first ; paid attention to it , Oidiuin TucKEur . By this minio it has now become generally known , and in coiiMdcrcd to bo mio of those epidemics to which men , nnimuls , and vegetables have boon subjewt in all ages .

    In Tuscany the disease Jlrat » nad « its appearance in 1852 , and became worse in 1853 and 1664 . In , 1855 it decreased , and in 1858 it had almost entirely disappeared . The Oidiwn was first severely fait in Birtcay in 1852 . In'Valencia it was first noticed in 1850 j in Alicante it coiniu « iiood partially in 1851 , but was not ¦ practically of'importance in either province till 18513 . It went on Increasing * till 1857 , but in 1858 had in both entirely disappeared . Between 1850 and 1851 the disease was observed in every part of Spain , and iii every part from which our Government has published reports , it had dinuppuarod by the end o < ' 1858 . No official information has boon supplied from Portugal , but from Mr . JLumuc y ' s reports on

    Spain we y a from Spain into Portugal had taken place . " The * iue trade of Portugal on the Dour 6 , " says this gentleman , ^ has , for the last five or six % ears , been as much indebted to Spain for its existence as the wine , trade of Fiance . " In Portugal , therefore , the disease showed itself as early as in ^ any part of Spain , and was there , we know , very After France and Spain , AuBtria—the whole empire—produce * the greatest quantity of wine—528 , 000 , 000 gals , in 1855— of any country in Europe ; and Austria , except in -the ' Italian and coastprovinces , suffered comparatively little from the disease . It made its appearance hi Piedmont , according to Mr . Lane in 18 , 16—Mi-War ^ say s 1851—continued throughout that neighbourhood til 1 S 56 , and made great ravages in Lombardy , Venetia , Iriuli , Dalraatia , and the Southern Tyrol . In Lower Austria ( the duchy ; proper ) the disease made its appearance only m places where the vine is reared against trellises , or along garden walls or hedges . The same fact was observed in several parts of Spain , and was so striking , that to cure the disease the vines were trailed ou the earth . In England vines are always trained against walls ; they nowhere grow like gooseberry or currant bushes , or like the vines in trance and most parts of Spain ; and this mode of culture seems a better explanation of the early origin of the disease here and in hothouses than the dampness of our climate , to which it has been ascribed . Those provinces of Austria which were affected by the disease suffered so much that the production of wine in them fell on to one-tenth of its usual quantity . We have traced this brief history of the origin , spread , and cessation of the disease in order to state its effects generally on the cultivation of the vine , and how this will stand in relation to _ the proposed repeal or reduction of our wine duties . In France , it is said , the dealers already exhibit a disposition to demand very high prices , and it is sometimes asserted and generally believed that the reduction of our duties will cajise a very considerable rise in the price of wine . We do not require now to learn that dealers always desire to get as high a price as they can for what they have to sell , nor that their desire does not determine the price . This depends on the relation between the supply and the demand , over which dealers have little or Ho control , and we shall advert to the broad facts of the case without taking their desire , which is an invariable condition of the problem , into consideration . . ' One obvious and immediate ejffect of the disease was to raise the price of wines . In the south of France the price of red-wines , of an average quality and colour , rose from 9 fiarics the hectolitre in 1851 ., to 48 francs in 1854 . The " Ailministrateur General de I'Assistance Publique paid 28 centimes per litre in 1852 , and 67 centimes in 1857 ; wine bought for the naval hospitals cost l 2 fr . 05 c . the . hectolitre in 1851 , and 59 fr . in 1857 . The disease , which threatened at one time to annihilate the vine , raised the price in France on the average fourfold . A similar effect took place in Spain , where , with a decrease of produce not greater than 5 per cent ., the price rose from 5 d . and 8 d . per gallon , to Is . 3 d . aud Is . 9 c ? ., according to quality . Such a rise in price is very sure to stimulate production ,, and more wine will hereafter be produced than heretofore . Another effect was to promote a trade in wine , especially an export of wine from Spain . and Austria , such as was never known before . " Great advantages , " says Mr . Fane , " have resulted to Austrian and Hungarian wines . from the Oidhtm , by reason of its causing si demand for them in Italy and France . The exportation of wine from Spain to France rose from about 1196 pipes in 1851 , to 18 , 335 pipes in 1855 , and to 42 , 491 pipes in 1857 . An export of wine alsotook place to a considerable extent from Spain into Portugal . The consequence of this new trade will probably be to extend and improve the cultivation of the vine in Hungary , other provinces of the Austrian Empire , in Spain , and in other wine growing countries . The diseaso has , in a groat measure , every where disappeared , and the use of sulphur applied to the growing grapes seems a complete euro for it . At the same time it has , in all the wine-growing countries , led the growers to study the principles of cultivation and to improve it . The new trade , too , has induced the Spaniurds to pay more attention to preparing their wine for the foreign inarkots . As might be expected , extensive plantations of new vines have ,, been lately made in Spain ; and should the demand from France cease , Mr . Lumxky status there is a prospect of some parts of Spain being absolutely drowned in wine . It was very natural as the disease became intense and disastrous , that tl » o vine cultivation should decline . ^ Accordingly , in Franco , between 1853 and 1856 , 18 , 120 hectares of land censed to bo cultivated in vines . Then , however , the downward movement stopped , and in 1857 , 10 , 000 additional hectares had been planted with vines . It is of equal importance to know that tho majority of the vinos destroyed by the oidiwn were old or exhausted , or bad sorts , and their place has been supplied by now and butter Icindi * . The official reports contain much evidence that the disease has contributed everywhere to promote the improvement in tho cultivation of tho vino which had before begun . In consequence of this improvement , and of tho cessation of the diseaso , the price of wine in Prance and Spain has declined nearly to tho normal rates . In our markets , as tho Daily News has pointed out , tho price ofwinu is now from 15 to 29 per cent , lower than at the beginnin ' g of 185 ( 8 . , It aeoina quite cortim ? , therefore , should no alteration bo inado in our duties increasing the demand—and it is probable oven should such an alteration be made—that tho price of wine will fall still lower . From those circumatancoa \ ya inftr that , for tho next fow ycam at lcaat , the supply of wine is likely to be in excess of tho demand . The present is consequently a moat rtuspioiouH time for us to reduce * *

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    learn that latterl considerable importation of wine 1 X 2 V The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ Feb . 4 ; I 860 . ; v ' ' - ¦¦ ' - ¦ — ¦ - " ™ . . . '¦ . m . -m j i !__ a . a « A ? JX A « nKl rt » -w * » - » rt ** 4-Vk 4- ¦ r \ V \ f \ 'T fV . I VliV

    The Vine Disease And Pkick. Of Wine.

    THIfl VINE DISEASE AND PRICE OF WINE .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 112, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2332/page/12/