which, happily,
is passing away. The vintners ask only to be put upon the same footing
as manufacturers, namely, an _ad valorem_ tax of three per cent.; and
they say that the Government will derive a greater revenue from such a
tax than from the one now in force, as they cannot pay the present tax,
and, unless it is abated, they will be obliged to abandon the business.
Efforts are being made to induce Congress to modify it, and it is to be
hoped they will be successful.

In 1861 California sent a commissioner to Europe, to procure the best
varieties of vines cultivated there, and also to report upon the
European culture generally. The gentleman selected for the mission was
Colonel Haraszthy, to whom I am indebted for many of my statistics, and
who has given us a very interesting book on the subject. He brought back
a hundred thousand vines, embracing about fourteen hundred varieties.
These were to have been planted and experimented upon under the auspices
of the State. What the result has been I am unable to say; but we are
informed upon good authority that over two hundred foreign varieties are
now successfully cultivated. Such being the fact, it is a fair
presumption that we are soon to make wines in sufficient variety to suit
all tastes.

Los Angeles is at present the largest wine-growing county in the State,
and Sonoma the second. Many other portions of the State, however, are
fast becoming planted with vineyards, and some of them are already
giving promise of furnishing superb wines. As usual in wine-growing
countries, in the southern part of the State the wines are richer in
saccharine properties, and heavier-bodied, than those of the more
northern sections, but are deficient in flavor and bouquet. We shall get
a lighter and tarter wine from the Sonoma and other northern vineyards,
which will please many tastes better than the southern wines. The two
largest vineyards in the State are owned by Colonel Haraszthy, of
Sonoma, and John Rains, of San Gabriel. The former has two hundred and
ninety thousand vines, and the latter one hundred and sixty-five
thousand. It is probable that from one of these vineyards at least will
come a good Champagne wine.

A large tract of land, to which has been given the name of "Anaheim,"
has been recently purchased by a German company. It is sold to actual
settlers in lots of twenty acres, affording room for twenty thousand
vines. There are now planted nearly three hundred thousand,