IN ITALY. 101 



complete success from her first cuttings should 

 have induced a belief that the experiment had 

 failed. The Swiss vine dresser knows better, 

 and the surprise with him in such a case would 

 have been, that his plants had at all produced 

 fruit. It is true that the grape of Schuylkill 

 county had been taken, in the first instance, from 

 the woods, (so says tradition) ; but it has been 

 questioned by some, whose opinion is entitled to 

 respect, whether this grape be not of foreign ori- 

 gin, and by some freak of- nahrte; found its *to>ay 

 to the forests of the western wbr id. '' Be that ' as 

 it may, the change of habit 'from' a stivagR 1 .' to Sa 

 civilized home, is not, inh& vibe,* $ie'busmess'tff 

 a day. 



Between animal and vegetable life there is a 

 close analogy. In man, the transition from a 

 savage to a civilized state is not effected but by 

 moral and physical changes, equally painful. 

 The removal to a distant quarter even of the 

 same country, frequently induces a distressing 

 revulsion, and the process of acclimating is gene- 

 rally effected by slow and gradual suffering. 

 But the ordeal passed, the elastic energy of the 

 constitution restores its powers, and nature 

 asserts her legitimate sway. With the vine, the 

 parallel is striking, and it has not escaped the 

 vigilant cultivator, that a removal of the vine to 

 a foreign country, is succeeded by a sickly repin- 

 ing which checks the vigor of the plant. The 

 shooting of the branches appears an effort of 

 nature. The foliage assumes a less brilliant 

 hue. The plant languishes, and the whole ve- 

 getation indicates a struggle for life. A part of 

 I 2 



