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
