Skins of the Grapes are thin, and the Sourness rectify'd by the Sun, and
will bear pressing without injuring the finer Juices.

There is one thing which I shall mention with regard to the Endeavours that
have been used to make Wine in the Island of _St. Helena_; a Place so
situate, that it lies as a resting-place between these Northern Parts, and
the _East-Indies_, and so remote from other places, that could there be
good Wine made there, it would be of great help and assistance to the Ships
that sail that way: But I am informed by a curious Gentleman, who has had
many good Accounts of that Place, that the Vines which have been planted
there, are of such sorts, as bring the Grapes ripe and rotten on one side
of the Bunch, and green on the other at the same time, which surely can
never make good Wine. But upon enquiry, they are only such sorts of Grapes
as grow in close Clusters, and therefore the side next the Sun must be ripe
much sooner than the other; for the Climate there is so violent hot, that
there are no Walls used behind them to reflect the Heat to ripen the Backs
of the Bunches.

Therefore, I suppose that the best way to have good Wine made in those
Parts, is to furnish that Place with Vines which may bring their Grapes in
open or loose Bunches, such as the Raisin-grape, and some others, which do
not cluster; for then the Sun would have an equal effect upon all the
Grapes, and good Wine might be made of them: But the worthy Gentleman who
told me of this, has, I hear, sent to _St. Helena_ a Collection of such
Grapes as will answer the desired end.

This is likewise the Month when Saffron appears above ground; sometimes
sooner, sometimes later, according as the Season is earlier or later. This
Year, 1726, I was in the Saffron Country, and in the beginning of _August_
the Saffron-heads or Roots had shut up so long in the flowering part, that