Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/89

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forded by success in the experiment, is still liable to be checked by the fear, that that variety is bordering on decay and dissolution, and may only survive for a few years, to reward the enterprise and industry of its introducer.

Superadded to these considerations, there is this, that out of a considerable number of varieties already introduced, only two have been found effectually to bear the climate of New South Wales.

The plants, indeed, grow luxuriantly, and produce fruit in abundance; but, before arriving at maturity it is very generally attacked by disease or blight. It would seem, that notwithstanding the astonishing facility with which the vine changes its qualities, when in transplantation, it experiences the effects of a slight change of climate or soil, there are changes so violent, that few of its varieties possess the power of altering their habits sufficiently to endure them. It is a curious fact, that in attempting to introduce into America the vines of Europe, obstacles of the same nature should have presented themselves. I have been favoured with the perusal of a memoir made to John M'Arthur, Esq. by a native of Switzerland, who had been engaged in such an undertaking, from which it appears, that his efforts