CULTIVATED PLANTS. 157 



We have already observed that the varieties of the grape are 

 most numerous ; they are also often so strongly marked as to cause 

 many writers to deny the possibility of their having all sprung 

 from the wild vine, but their apparent permanence is in most 

 instances only due to their universal propagation, by cuttings or 

 layers, not by seed. Pliny records eighty kinds, and many others 

 are mentioned by Virgil, Columella, Varro, Macrobius and other 

 writers, which it is now impossible to recognise with certainty 

 amongst the modern varieties, amounting in some collections to 

 above three hundred. Fee, Gallesio, and others have however 

 endeavoured to identify some with more or less plausibility, of 

 which the following are a few instances : — 



The Apiana of Pliny, or Apicea of Cato, is supposed to be a 

 muscat imported from Greece, and it is believed that most of the 

 muscat-flavoured varieties were originally raised in the Archi- 

 pelago. 



The mnhrosiaca is believed to be another muscat. 



The grtpcula is the Corinth stoneless, or currant grape. 



The rhcBtica the uva passa of Spoleto, another stoneless and 

 ■currant grape. 



The venicula, sircula, or stacula, is the marzemina of the 

 Venetians. 



The dactylites is perhaps the uva galletta of modern Italy. 



The trifera, the uva di tre volte from Chio. 



The picina, perhaps the uva colore. 



The trehulana, the Trebbiano, yielding a wine celebrated for 

 its excellence by Tasso. 



Others of the Roman names are derived from the countries 

 whence the varieties were imported, such as the hiturgica from 

 Bordeaux, the j^haia from lUyria, the 2>rusina from Broussa in 

 Anatolia, the cBgios from vEgia near Corinth, the alexandrina 

 from Alexandria in the Troas, the aminea, a highly prized variety, 

 from Aminei near Falerno, &c. The eagerness to import into Italy 

 the vines of other countries celebrated for the excellence of theii* 

 wines has continued to the present day. Prof. Targioni adducing 

 many proofs of its prevalence in the middle ages. It is a pity 

 the Italians do not at the same time introduce the modes of 

 treatment and manipulation, to the deficiencies in which must be 

 mainly attributed the general inferiority of Italian wines to 

 those produced in similar climates in France and Spain. 



Great attention has been paid in Tuscany to the cultivation of 

 dessert fruits, from the time of the ancient Etruscans, as 



