VOGtfE-VOLAPtfK. 



743 



however, can be made only in a much narrower dis- 

 trict, the chief wine-producing countries being France, 

 Spain, Portugal, Germany (valley of the Rhine), Aus- 

 tria, and Italy. In North America the hardy native 

 vines thrive as far north as Massachusetts, but wine 

 cannot be profitably made above Southern New York, 

 Pennsylvania, and Northern Ohio. The culture of the 

 vine has hitherto not been extensively prosecuted in the 

 Southern States, though it is probable that good wines 

 could be produced throughout that region. 



In viticulture soil and location have a great influence 

 on the quality of the product, often from causes that 

 are not apparent. A southern slope is important for 

 the profitable growth of the vine, and light soils are 

 best, even sandy loams, but mineral food, especially 

 potash, is necessary, and the best European soil seems 

 to be that arising from the disintegration of felspathic 

 and volcanic rocks. American vines, on the contrary, 

 seem to prefer calcareous soils. The soil needs to be 

 deep and well drained, "wet feet" being generally 

 thought injurious to the vine. There are several 

 methods of propagation, as cutting, layering, and 

 grafting, and seed planting to produce new varieties. 

 Grapes vary readily from seed growth. Seeds from 

 black varieties like the Concord, tor instance, will occa- 

 sionally yiel 1 pure white or greenish varieties without 

 cross fertilization, though the latter is considered the 

 most advantageous process. The seeds need to be ob- 

 tained from fully ripe fruit, mixed with sand and kept 

 moist until spring, when they are sown in boxes under 

 glass or in the open ground, being covered with a halt' 

 inch of soil. The seeds of hardy varieties do best if 

 kept where they will freeze during the winter. The 

 seedlings are set out when a year old and trained to a 

 single stake until they produce fruit. After the grapes 

 appear the inferior vines are destroyed, and those 

 worthy of preservation propagated in the usual meth- 

 ods. It is very rarely that an improved variety ap- 

 pears, the chance of success not being one in a thou- 

 sand, though there is still much room for improvement 

 in our native grape*. 



The most common method of grape culture is by 

 cuttings. These are taken from the previous year's 

 growth, 3 buds being usually left, though single bud- 

 cuttings with 1 or 2 inches of cane are used in propa- 

 gating rare varieties. The latter need to be grown 

 with great care, and are usually started under glass 

 during the winter. Another common method is by 

 layering. The layer is but a cutting left attached to 

 the parent vine and fed by it until it has developed 

 roots of its own. The principal advantage of this 

 method is that certain varieties which are not readily 

 propagated by cuttings may be made to produce roots 

 on layers, the vitality of the planted canes being longer 

 preserved. Grafting is a very ancient method. It 

 was much practised in Roman times, and is frequently 

 described in Latin treatises on agriculture. Its principal 

 advantage is in giving hardy root stocks to delicate 

 varieties. The most usual method is to insert the scion 

 in the crown of the plant below the surface of the 

 ground. It needs to be tied in and the earth banked 

 around it, this serving instead of the wax employed in 

 aerial grafting. It is necessary, however, to prevent 

 the scion from sending out roots of its own, and its 

 rootlets need to be removed several times during the 

 season. 



There are various ideas about the best methods of 

 growing the grape. The open trellis and frame train- 

 ing is most common in the United States. In Europe, 

 where wood is less abundant, single stakes are often 

 used, the vine being pruned more severely than the 

 American species will pear. The several diseases and 

 insect enemies to which the vine is subject are de- 

 scribed under GRAPE and PHYLLOXERA. The prod- 

 ucts of tin' vine arc six in number : the fruit, which is 

 largely wed in the fresh .-MM- as an article of food ; 

 the dried 1 fniii, or raisin, fiir which the sweeter grapes 

 are u.*jd ; the currant, which is the dried product of a 



small seedless grape cultivated in the Levant; wine, 

 the fermented juice of the grape ; brandy, the alco- 

 holic spirit distilled from wine ; and tartar (the acid 

 tartrate of potassium), which is deposited as a solid 

 incrustration on the interior of casks in which wine is 

 stored, and which, in its purified state, forms the 

 cream of tartar of commerce. 



Of these several products the American industry is 

 confined to three only : the fruit, wine, and raisins. 

 Grapes are grown very largely for table use, and the 

 methods by which they can be kept in a fresh state 

 until far into the winter add considerably to their con- 

 sumption. Of recent years raisins, which were for- 

 merly produced only in Calabria, Sicily, and Turkey, 

 have been successfully dried in California. (See 

 WINES.).. , ( C . M .) 



^ \ OGUE, CHARLES JEAN MELCHIOR, MARQUIS DE, 

 French archaeologist and diplomatist, was born at 

 Paris in 1829. His father, Le'once, Marquis de 

 Vogue 1 (1805-1877), was in early life a lieutenant 

 of cavalry, but after the revolution of 1830 de- 

 voted himself to agriculture and iron-works until 

 1848, when he took part in forming the republic 

 and supported the presidency of Louis Napoleon. 

 But when the latter_ declared himself emperor 

 Marquis de Vogue 1 again withdrew from public life, 

 until 1871, when he was elected to the National 

 Assembly and supported the monarchists. In 1853 

 his son, then Couite de Vogue 1 , set put for the east, 

 where he devoted two years to exploring in Syria and 

 Palestine. After returning to Paris he published sev- 

 eral works of so high value that he was named a free 

 member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles 

 Ijettres to fill the place left vacant by the Due de 

 Luynes. In 1871 M. Thiers named him ambassador 

 to Constantinople, which office he held till 1875, when 

 lie was called to the embassy at Vienna. These posi- 

 tions, however, he_owed rather to his fame as a scholar 

 than to diplomatic ability, and on the accession of 

 Pros. Grery, in 1879, De Vogue 1 returned to France. 

 He is author of the following valuable and handsomely 

 illustrated works : Leg figlises de la Terre Sainfe, 

 with 59 engravings (1859); Inscriptions hebraiques de 

 Jerusalem (1864); a monograph on Le Temple de 

 Jerusalem, with 50 plates, followed by an Essai snr la 

 Typographic de la Ville Sainte(18(>5) ;L' Architecture 

 civile et religieuse du ler au Vile Siecle dans la Syrie 

 Centrale, with plates (1865-77); Melanges d'ArcMo- 

 logie Orientate (1869): Inscriptions Semitiques, 43 

 plates (1869-77). De Vogue 1 also edited the Due de 

 Luynes' posthumous work on the exploration of the 

 Dead Sea. 



VOLAPyK, the "world language," invented by 

 Johann Martin Schleyer, a Catholic priest, who was 

 born at Oberland, Baden, in 1831, and at present re- 

 sides in Switzerland. He became an ardent student 

 of philology, and gained some knowledge of about 50 

 languages and dialects. His studies in this direction 

 were largely devoted to the formation of a language 

 which would be suitable as a medium of international 

 intercourse, and in 1878 he published an outline of 

 such a language, of which he issued a grammar and 

 dictionary in 1880. He has since published numerous 

 works on the subject ; his system has been warmly 

 welcomed in Germany and has attracted so much at- 

 ;ention elsewhere as to call for a descriptive mention. 



The idea of a world language is not new. Efforts 

 lave been made from time to time in this direction, 

 rhe earliest being that of John Wilkins, Bishop of 

 Chester, in 1668. There have been many later schemes 

 imposed, recent ones being the "Ideography" of 

 Simbaldo de Mos in 1863, and the "Alevato" of 

 Stephen Pearl Andrews in 1877. All these, however, 

 were based on metaphysical or other impractical con- 

 ceptions, and have no value other than as literary 

 Curiosities. Schleyer's scheme was the first of a prac- 

 ,ical character. Recognizing that all existing lan- 

 guages have irregularities of grammar, orthography, 



