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ll2 Tlie Leadei- and[Saturday Analyst, [...
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TftE VINE DISEASE AND PRICE OF WINK-. ri...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Charnel-Houses. It Is Necessary To Call ...
that the C orporation of London , as at present constituted , wlII take effective measures for the removal of the danger , is simply to suppose what the experience of every ( lav shows to be visionary and futile : those who expect ' extrinsic aid to get them out ot their difficulties , must themselves use exertion and labour in then ; own cause ; and in this case more especially does it behove them to lose no time in their efforts , if they wish to escape the certain penalties which await upon delay and slothfulness . 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 of 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 blic wavof which there are a hundred and twenty in the Uty .
pu , It is to * 'be hoped that the recent disclosures will arouse the inhabitants to a sense of their present danger ,: and that they will also be put on their guard against pertain 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 tlie 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 secondai-y importance . ¦ _ The Report next informs us that mean have been adopted to meet the danger , as far as the power p ossessed by the medieal 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 . l ) r . Letheby asserts also , that it has been proposed on More than one occaj > ito to utilize the burial-grounds , and make them the subjects of building speculations . "In point of fact the same influences which have operated in bringing the grave yards of thismetropolis into their present condition , and in using the sanctuary for a charnel-house , may rfgnmaot without concern for the living or respect for the dead , iii turning to a profitable recount the unused burial-places of the city . But it is my duty
to worn" 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 qt the dead to the destruction of the living . We would , m all good feeling for the clerical character suggest that the respect duo towards it from the laity of the country will not bo 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 the health and the lives of their flocks . A few months buck , London was shocked by the deplorable and
disgusting scones which took place in L ' ratt Street , Ganideu Town , in a burial-ground sold for building- purposes , when bodies were exhumed in cart loads , 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 consequences of stony hearted and unreasoning cupidity ,
Ll2 Tlie Leadei- And[Saturday Analyst, [...
ll 2 Tlie Leadei- and [ Saturday Analyst , [ Feb . 4 , I 860 ,
Tfte Vine Disease And Price Of Wink-. Ri...
TftE VINE DISEASE AND PRICE OF WINK-. riTHE snipe blight , according to the oniciiil reports , made its first X appearance in Franco in 1850 , when it infected some vineyards in tho neighbourhood of Paris . In 1851 ifc boaiune genural throughout JbViu ice , and attained its maximum ofiiitensity in 1854 It began to decline in 1855 , and in 1858 was overcome . The di < oaso waa observed in England an early aa 1845 , and wiva named after the geutloimm who first paid attention to it , Oidium Tuck win . By this naruo it haa now become generally known , and is considered to . bo one of those epidemics to which men , animals , and vegetables have been subject in nil ayes .
In Tuscany the diseaso first made its appoamueo iu 1852 , and became worse in 185 ! J and 1854 .. In 1855 it decreased , and in 1858 it hud almost entirely disappeared . The Oiditun was first severely felt in Biscay in 1855 } . I" Valencia it whij llvst noticed in 1850 ; in Alksanto it commenced partially in 1851 , but was not pmctjeally of hunortanoo in either province till 1851 ) ., It wont on iuoroueing till 1857 , but in 1858 had in both entirely disappeared . Between 1850 and 1851 tho difloiwo was observed in every part of Spain , and in every nart from which our Government hns nviblished reports , it Imd ditwnpt'ftred by the end of 1858 . No offluliil inf ' onuation haa Jueon supplied from Portugal , but from Mr . Lumlky ' s reports on
Spain we learn- that latterly a considerable importation of wine from Spain into Portugal hadtaken place . " The wine ' trade of Portu al on the Douro / ' says this gentleman . " , for the last five or six vear « , been as nmdli indebted to Spain for its existence as the wine ; tracle of France . " In Portugal , therefore , the d ^ ease showed itselr as early as in any part of Spain , and was there , we kno ^ very
After France nnd Spain , Austria—the whole empire—produces the greatest quantity of wine—528 , 000 , 000 gals , in 1855-of anv country in Europe ; and Austria , except m the Italian and coast provinces , suffered comparatively little from the disease . ^ It made its appearance in Piedmont , according to Mr . Fanjs , in 1846—Mr Ward says 1851—continued throughout that neighbourhood till 1 S 56 and made great ravages in Lombardy , Venetia , Friuh , Dalmatia , and ( he Southern Tyrol . In Lower Austria ( the duchy proper ) the disease made its appearance only in places where therellises garden walls hedges
vine is reared against t , or along or . The same fact was observed in several parts of Spain , and was so ' striking ; that to cure the disease the vines were trailed on the earth . In England vines are always trained against walls ; they nowhere grow like Gooseberry or currant bushes , or like the vines in France and most parts of Spain ; and this mode of culture seems a better explanation of the early origin of the disease here and m hothouses than the dampness of our climate , to which if has been ascribed . Those provinces of Austria which were affected by the disease suffered so much that the production of wine in them tell oft
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 oil 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 arid generally believed that the reduction of our duties will cause 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 ivhich dealers , have little or no control , and we shall advert to the broad facts or the case without taking their desire , which is an invariable conditioiie of the probleminto consideration . -
, ^ One obvious and immediate effect of the disease was to raise theprice of wines . In the south of Fiance the price of red _ wines , of . an ? average quality and colour , rose from 9 francs the hectolitre in 1851 ,. to 4 S francs in 1854 . The " Administrateur General de VAssistance 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 , imd 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 npt greater than 5 per cent ., the price rose from . 5 d . and 8 d . per gallon , to Is . 3 d . and Is . 9 d ., according toquality . 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 uerprc " Great advantages , " says Mr . Fane , • ' have resulted to Austrian and Hungarian wines from the Oidium , by reason of its cauaing a demand for them in Italy and France . The exportation of wine from Spain tjo France rose from about 1196 pipes in 1851 , to 18 , 335 pipes in 1855 , and to 4 . 2 , 491 pipes in 1857 . An export of wine also took place to a considerable extent from Spain into Portugal . The consequence of thjis new trade will probably be to extend and improve the cultivation of the vine in Hungary , other provinces of the Austrian Eiripire , in Spain , and in other wine growing countries . The disease has , in agreat measure . every where disappeared , and theuse of sulphur applied to the growing grapes seems a complete cure for it . A . t the same time it has , in all the wine-growing countries , led tho growers to study th q , principles of cultivation and to improve it . to atten
The new trade , ' too , has induced tho Spaniards pay more - tion to preparing their wine for tlie foreign markets . Aa might be < expected , extensive plantations of now vines have been lately made in Spain ; and should tho demand from France cease , Mr . Lumms y states 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 the vine cultivation should deoline . Accordingly , in Fraace , betweon 1853 and 1856 , 18 , 120 hectares of land ceased to be cultivated in vines . Then , however , the downward movement stopped , and in 1857 , 10 , 000 additional hectares had been planted with vinos , It is of equal importance to know that the majority of tho vinos destroyed by tho oidium were old or exhuustod , or bad sorts , and their place haa been supplied by new and better kinds . The official reports contain much evidence that tho diaeaso has contributed everywhere to promote tho improvement in the cultivation of the vino which had before begun .
In consequence of this improvement , and of tho cessation of the disease , tho price of wine in France and Spain has declined ) nearly to tho normal nitoa . In ouv markets ,, as tho Daily News has pointed out , the price of wino is now from 15 to 29 per cent , lower ¦ thun at tho beginning of 1868 . It seems quite cortaui ,, therefore , should no alteration bo niado in our duties increasingthe demand—rand it is probable , even should suoh an alteration be made—that tho price of wine will fall still lowor , From those circumstances wo infer that , for tho next few years nt least , tho supply of wine i « likely to bo in excess of the demand . The present is consequently a most auspicious time for us to reduce
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04021860/page/12/
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