vine-stools are cut down to within a few
inches of the ground, the shoots remain
unsustained by props, and trail along the surface
of the earth, exposing the grapes, at all stages
of their growth, to dirt, wet, insects, and
vermin. True, that in long warm summers,
they get thoroughly ripened on the heated
soil. Brandy grapes, thus matured and
shrivelled, form a delicious winter dessert.
The most esteemed varieties ot grape for
eaux-de-vie, are, the Folle, or rather the
Folle-Blanche (for there is black Folle, or
Madcap, in lower estimation), a very common
vine in Charente and Lower Charente, which
produces excellent but short-lived wine, and,
at the same time, the wine that contributes
the most to make good brandy. The berries
are middle-sized, and yellowish in colour.
The wood is rather stout, and is pruned to
three or four eyes, if the stool is vigorous.
It adapts itself to every soil. The St. Emillion,
or Semillon, is a variety introduced from
the south, easily recognised by its very stout
reddish-brown wood, its high-shouldered
bunches of considerable length and breadth,
composed of large berries of an uncommon
hue, for they are beautifully yellow
when perfectly ripe. In pruning, no more
than three eyes are left ; and all soils suit it.
The Colombar is a charming grape, yellowish
when quite ripe. It makes a heady, clear, well-
keeping wine. Mixed with black grapes, it
makes a tolerable wine to drink. It may be
pruned almost at discretion, though more
than five or six eyes are seldom left. The
bunches are long and well shouldered ;
the berries are rather oblong, and rarely
decay while hanging on the vine. It is an
abundant bearer, resists frost well, and
succeeds in almost any situation. The stools
rise to a considerable height. It is not rare
for a single cep of Colombar to give seven or
eight quarts of wine. These are all so-called
white grapes ; Charente brandy being mostly
made of white wine. The before-mentioned
Balzac, a black grape, is also in great favour,
and very common, producing tolerably good,
but rather strong wine, and is best mixed
with other varieties. The bunch is beautifully
black, the stalk red, the wood reddish-
brown. It is pruned to two or three eyes, at
most. It shoots late, and very vertically,
and requires a clayey soil.

These varieties are mentioned, because
they are quite distinct from those which
produce either burgundy or champagne wine.
A. few others are cultivated, though less
generally and indispensably. The grapes are
pressed immediately from the vineyard, without
fermenting in the tub; so that no colouring
matter is extracted from the skin of
whatever black grapes may enter into the
medley, and no alcoholic vapours are lost.
The wine from which brandy is made is not
an agreeable beverage ; it is harsh, deficient
in aroma, and very treacherous as to its
tipsyfying powers. Mixed with several times
its bulk of water, it may serve to slake the
thirst of a weary man. That is all it is good
lor in the way of drink. Indeed, were it
really good wine, it would be too valuable to
burn into spirit ; and, as a rule, districts
which produce the best brandy also furnish
the least palatable wines. Nevertheless, the
Department of Charente supplies very
drinkable,though not luxurious red wines, and
cheap. It sustains the industrious labouring
man with needful support, though it cannot
pamper the voluptuous epicure. Most vineyards
are planted with a mixture of black and
white grapes ; because, although white vines
are supposed to be longer-lived than black,
their wine is believed to be improved by the
addition of juice from their dark-skinned
brethren. Moreover, the idea is prevalent
that white vines do not feed on the same
substances as black ; that the former mainly
absorb sulphureous elements, and contain
more spirituosity in proportion as those
matters are in greater abundance, while
black vines prefer to assimilate the ferruginous
particles contained in the soil, and that
the depth of colour in red wine is relative to
the iron that lurks in the vineyard. In
short, were Jean .Raisin to go to war, his
fair, Caucasian, white-skinned regiments
would fight with a burning brimstone match,
while his black and dingy negro hordes
would transfix you through and through with
daggers of steel. The strength of Charente
lies in its liquid fire, and the most famous
spot for brandy in the Arrondissement of
Cognac is a tract of land named La
Champagne. "But why do you call it
Champagne?" I asked. "Ma foi ! I don't know,"
was the answer I got ; " I suppose for the
same reason that this place is called Cognac."
The reader, however, will please to note that
Champagne brandy is not brandy from the
province which produces champagne wine,
but from this favourite locality near Cognac.

Wines (white having the preference;
though any cheap wine in little request will
do, since the best brandy comes from the
worst wine) are ready for distillation in the
course of a month after their fermentation is
completed, without waiting for them to
clear themselves. December is generally the
mouth to begin burning,— the gloomy season,
when poor Jean Raisin is brought to the
stake, and is treated quite in the orthodox
style of cooking heretics, and converting them
by fire. Unhappy Jean may say of the acs
what Rabelais, at Rome, said to the Pope,
touching his native place, "Most Holy Father,
I am a Frenchman, belonging to a little town
named Chinon, where people are very subject
to the faggot disease. A great many respectable
people have already been burnt there,
and, amongst them, some of my own relations"
A speedy execution of the Raisin
family is not only mercy, but economy. New
wine furnishes considerably more spirit than
it would do at the end of a twelvemonth ;