VINE. 



Vinis Vinifcra. 



^WITHSTANDING the fact that vineyards exist and wine is 

 made at present in Palestine, it is beyond doubt that the 

 days have long since passed away when the vine flourished 

 throughout the Holy Land. Probably those days ended 

 in the reign of Elizabeth, when the songs of the vine 

 yard in the land were somewhat like the &quot;vintage shouting&quot; of 

 ancient times; for, according to Ilakluyt, (see Voyages,) great 

 quantities of Muscadel wine, made in Judea, and especially 

 the fine wines of Askalon, were shipped from the ports of 

 Palestine in that reign. Since then the prohibitions of the 

 Mohammedan law have caused a decrease in the amount annu 

 ally made. The vine is found wild at the foot of Mount 

 Ararat, in the neighborhood of Noah s first vineyard; but it 

 has spread east and west, into Georgia and Armenia and the 

 northern parts of Persia, where it is also native : it does not, 

 however, seem to flourish in India. Some have supposed 

 that Noah cultivated the vine before the flood and at that early 

 period drank of the wine made from his own vineyard. At 

 present the soil of Egypt is doubtless unfriendly to the vine ; 

 but there appears to have been a gradual cessation of the culti 

 vation of the grape, which would give ground for the suppo 

 sition that before the time of the Exodus the grape was in 



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