HI 



VINIC ALCOHOL. 



VIOLET. 



experienced Yioe-dnsMn recommend deferring this operation to the 

 year, by which although the Tine will not be BO forward in 



fruiting. It will be much strengthened, and fully repay the apparent 

 IOM of time in the end. 



In the third year the vine is trained, that is, the shoots are tied to 

 upright stakes planted at each root, or they are laid in an arch and tied 

 from one root to another along the ground. In southern climates 

 trees are planted at a certain distance from each other, and the vine, 

 planted at their foot, is allowed to run up their branches, from which 

 it is led in festoons from tree to tree, while the head and branches of 

 the tree are cut off to prevent too much shade. This U by far the 

 most elegant mode of training the vine ; but in France the stakes and 

 the low training are the only methods suitable to the climate. The 

 pruning U generally done in the beginning of winter. 



When vineyards are established in the plains, where sometimes, as 

 those of Hedoc, they produce very good wine, the intervals between 

 the plants can be stirred by the plough, although forking and digging 

 by hand is more common ; hoeing is as necessary in a vineyard to 

 destroy weeds as it is in a field of turnips or any other crop sown in 

 row*. Wherever a vineyard is overrun with weeds, you may be sure 

 that there is no good wine, and much poverty in the proprietor. The 

 pruning of a vine in bearing, the object of which is to produce much 

 fruit without weakening the plant, can only be learnt by experience 

 and practice; much of the success of a vineyard depends on this 

 operation. In the best vineyards no manure is used, except that which 

 ' we mentioned before, of leaves and tendrils ; but some soils require to 

 be recruited, and without manure would produce little or no wine. In 

 this case there is no alternative, and composts must be formed, as is 

 done in common cultivation, with animal and vegetable substances 

 mixed and decomposed. Manure from the cow-house should be mixed 

 with virgin earth from pastures and meadows, and laid in small heaps 

 in the intervals between the rows. It may be left a little while, if it 

 have any rank smell, and then forked in round the roots ; the more it is 

 decomposed the better. Many a vineyard has lost its reputation after 

 having been abundantly manured. The Johannisberg was much 

 reduced in value, after having been dunged, while in the possession of 

 General Kellerman. 



After a certain time, which differs in different situations, the vine 

 becomes less productive from the exhaustion of the soil, as is the case 

 when the same crops are repeatedly sown in the same ground : this 

 depends on the depth of the soils. All perennial plants shoot out their 

 root* farther and farther every year in search of fresh earth, and it is 

 by this means that trees flourish for a long time on the same spot ; but 

 if the roots are prevented from spreading, or, the plants being too 

 crowded, their roots interfere, a diminution of vigour is the con- 

 sequence. So it U with the vine. In some situations, where the roots 

 strike in crevices of rocks in which rich earth has accumulated, the 

 vines will continue in vigour for many years ; but where their progress 

 is arrested by a solid rock or substratum, they will in time show signs 

 of exhaustion. In this case the remedy is the same as for laud bearing 

 corn. A fallow, or rest, as it is usually called, is necessary, together 

 with the addition of such manures as shall restore the lost fertility. 

 For this purpose a portion of the oldest roots are dug up every year, 

 and the ground trenched or loosened two feet deep or more with the 

 mattock, to expose it to the influence of the atmosphere. A compost 

 is prepared with sods taken from pastures, or any virgin earth which 

 can be procured ; this U mixed with some lime and turned over several 

 times, to rot all the roots and grass which may be in it, and to make 

 it a uniform and rich mould. Holes are now made, exactly as when a 

 new vine is planted, and in each of them a basket or barrowf ul of earth 

 is thrown ; in this the new plants or cuttings are planted to produce 

 new vines in due time: thus the vineyard is gradually renovated. 

 The proportion thus fallowed every year depends on the natural 

 duration of the vine in that particular situation. In inferior soils one- 

 seventh is thus renewed every year, in some a twentieth part is suffi- 

 cient, and then are vineyards which have never been renewed in the 

 memory of the present generation, but these are few in proportion to 

 the rest. 



Vineyards for several years past, and in almost every country, have 

 been subject to attacks of the Oidium Tiaktri, a destructive fungus that 

 has in many cases entirely ruined the vineyards. No perfect remedy 

 has been yet found for the attacks of this fungus, but the most 

 successful hitherto has been the sprinkling of the plants with powdered 

 sulphur. [ViTta, in NAT. HIST. Uiv.J 



VINIC ALCOHOL. [AuconoL.1 



VINOUS FERMENTATION. The process by which sugar. In the 

 presence of yeast, is transformed into alcohol and carbonic acid. [Feu 



MUST.] 



VIOL, an ancient musical instrument, which U traced back as far as 

 the 8th century, and may be considered as the parent of all modern 

 instruments of the violin family. 



The Viol was a fretted instrument, of three sorts treble, tenor, and 

 base, each furnished with six strings, and played on by a bow. The 

 Treble Viol was rather larger than our violin, and the music for it was 

 written in the treble clef. The Tenor Viol was in length and breadth 

 about the size of the modern viola, but thicker in the body, and its 

 notation was in the aoprana or C clef. The Base Viol scarcely d 

 in dimensions from our violoncello : the music for it was written in 

 the base clef. 



" Concerts of viols," says Sir J. Hawkins (iv. 339), " were the usual 

 entertainments after the practice of singing madrigals grew into disuse ; 

 and these latter (that is, viols) were so totally excluded by the intro- 

 duction of the violin, that at the beginning of the 18th century Dr. 

 Tudway was but just able to give, in a letter to his son, a description 

 of a Chest of Viols. He tells us that it ' was a large hutch with seve- 

 ral apartments and partitions in it, each lined with green baize. Every 

 instrument was sized in bigness according to the part played upon it ; 

 the least size played the treble part.' &c. The hunioous Thomas 

 Mace, of Cambridge, in his ' Music's Monument' (p. 245), says, ' Your 

 best provision (and most complete) will be a good chest of viols, six in 

 number, namely, two bases, two tenors, and two trebles, all truly and 

 proportionably suited. Of these the highest in esteem are by Holies 

 and Ross (one bass of Holies' I have known valued at 10U<). These 

 were old ; but we have now very excellent workmen, who (no doubt) 

 can work as well.' " 



VIOL DA GAMBA (or properly, Viola di Gamma), that is, the 

 leg-viol, so called from being held between the legs, was the last 

 survivor of the family of viols, and did not entirely fall into disuse till 

 the latter part of the 1 8th century. In form and dimensions it re- 

 sembled the modern violoncello, but had six strings. The tone was 

 nasal and disagreeable, and the instrument is so thoroughly supplanted 

 by the violoncello, that in all likelihood its restoration will never be 

 attempted. 



VIOLA, or TENOR-VIOLIN, a larger kind of violin, to which the 

 part between the second violin and base is assigned. It has four gut 

 strings, the two lowest covered with silver wire, which are tuned A, D, 

 o, and c, an octave above the violoncello ; or 



:P 



EBE 



VIOLA ODORATA, Medical Propcrtiti of. Though every part of 

 the sweet-scented violet possesses some property which renders it 

 useful, it is chiefly the qualities of the flower which entitle it to 

 notice here. The petals possess a colour and an odour which -render 

 them useful. The former serves as a chemical test, the latter recom- 

 mends the preparations to the sense of smell by its pleasantness. It is 

 not always innocuous, as very sensitive persons have sunk under its 

 influence. Violets should not be kept during the night in sleeping- 

 rooms. 



The petals may either be employed fresh to form a syrup, or pre- 

 served dry, and used when required. The drying must be carefully 

 performed, to preserve the colour, and afterwards kept in the dork, 

 either in bags of thick brown paper, or bottles lined with paper. The 

 syrup is used more as a chemical test, to show by the action on its 

 colour the presence or absence of acids or alkalies, than as a medicine. 

 It ought, for either purpose, to be perfectly pure ; but few things are 

 more sophisticated. Its medical properties are slight, if any. It is 

 reputed to be a mild, safe laxative, mixed with almond-oil, for even the 

 youngest children. 



The seeds are demulcent, and they, as well as the leaves, are emollient, 

 from the mucilage they contain. They are both used for fomentations 

 and cataplasms. The root is emetic and purgative. It contains an 

 alkaloid termed Violina. This resembles Emetina, and can be used 

 like it. 



Viola tricolor, or Pansy, is recommended in the skin disease of 

 children called Cnutalaclea, or Porrigo lurralit. It communicates, as 

 does a Spanish sweetmeat or preserve, a peculiar odour to the secretion 

 from the kidneys. The occurrence of this odour is therefore no crite- 

 rion of a beneficial action over the disease. Viola pnmulirfolia. Linn., 

 V. ovala, Rafinisque, is reputed good against the bite of the rattlesnake. 



Jonidium Ipecacuanha is the emetic of Hrozil, while lonidinm tuicra- 

 pkyllum, of Quito, is most useful in Elephantiaiit. 



VIOLET. The botanical characters are given in the NAT. HIST. 

 Div., under VIOLA ; but there are many varieties. There are hardly 

 any species of violet that do not deserve cultivation on account of 

 their beauty ; but the varieties of odorata, the sweet-scented species, 

 and tricolor [PANSY], are the chief favourites. They are all readily 

 raised by seeds, or by parting the roots. The annuals may be sown on 

 the open border or on rockwork ; the perennials, on a mixture of loam, 

 peat, and plenty of sand. The shrubby kinds are best propag.v 

 cuttings, and the herbaceous by dividing the roots. The Neapolitan 

 violet, which is white, is somewhat more ditficult to raise in this 

 country. The best way is. in May, after they have done flowering, to 

 sift some light soil over the plants to the depth of a couple of inches, 

 in order to promote the production of runners, but leaving as much of 



