Chap. 4] VARIETIES OF THE TINE. 223 



account of the body and durability of its wine, which improves 

 with old a°-e There are five varieties of the Aminean grape ; 

 of these, the smaller germana, or " sister" grape, has a smaller 

 berry than the rest, and flowers more strongly, being able to 

 bear up against rain and tempestuous weather ; a thing that 

 is not the case with the larger germana, though it is less ex- 

 posed to danger when attached to a tree than when supported 

 only by a trellis. Another kind, again, has obtained the 

 name of the " gemella," or " twin" grape, because the clusters 

 always grow 40 in couples : the flavour of the wine is extremely 

 rou4, but it is remarkable for its strength. Of these several 

 varieties the smaller one suffers from the south wind, but re- 

 ceives nutriment from all the others, upon Mount Vesuvius 

 for instance, and the hills of Surrentum : in the other parte of 

 Italy it is never grown except attached to trees. The ntth 

 kind is that known as the lanata, or " woolly" grape ; so that 

 we need not be surprised at the wool-bearing trees 41 of the 

 Seres or the Indians, for this grape is covered with a woolly 

 down of remarkable thickness. It is the first of the Ami- 

 nean vines that ripens, but the grape decays with remarkable 



^^he^econcl rank belongs to the vines of Momentum, 4 ? the 

 wood of which is red, from which circumstance the vines have 

 received from some the name of " rubellse." The grapes of 

 this vine produce less wine than usual, in consequence of the 

 extraordinary quantity of husk and lees they throw off: but 

 the vine is remarkably strong, is well able to stand the frost, 

 and is apt to receive more detriment from drought than from 

 rain from heat than from cold ; hence it is that those are 

 looked upon as the best that are grown in cold and moist 

 localities. That variety which has the smallest grape is con- 

 veyed by a Thessalian tribe to Italy, where it was grown at Aminea, a 

 village in the Falernian district of Campania. It is supposed to have 

 been°the same as the gros plant of the French. The varieties mentioned 

 by Pliny seem not to have been recognized by the moderns. 



40 Fee does not give credit to this statement. 



4i In allusion to the cotton-tree, or else the mulberry leaves covered 

 with the cocoons of the silkworm. See B. vi. c. 20, and B. xn. c. 21. 

 Virgil, in the Georgics, has the well-known line : 



" Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres.' _ _ 



42 See B. iii. c. 9. There are many vines, the wood of which is red, 

 but this species has not been identified. 



