88 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOR. 



LESSONS 



SECTION LXIII. 



IN BOTANY. XXVIII. 



AMPELIDEJE, OR VITACE^I, THE VINE 

 FAMILY. 



Characteristics: Calyx free; petals four to five inserted upon 

 the border of a hypogynous, or siib-perigynous disc ; aestivation 

 valvate ; stamens five, opposite to the petals ; ovary two, three, 

 or six celled ; ovules ascendant, erect, or reflexed ; berry two 

 to six celled ; ovule dicotyledonous, straight, very minute, lying 

 at the base of a hard albumen ; stem ligneous ; leaves palmi- 

 lobed, digitate, or pinnate. 



Tho Ampelidece or Vitacece are generally trees or shrubs 



sphere vines are planted, and arrive at perfection at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, on the coasts of Chili, at the embouchure of the 

 Rio de la Plata, and in Australia. It is, however, the south 

 of France which must be regarded as the especial land of the 

 vine. 



The greater number of the Vitacece contain acids of various 

 kinds distributed throughout all parts of the plant, and in 

 various proportions; sometimes in the pure condition, some- 

 times mixed with other principles. In the berry of certain 

 species is found a kind of sugar named by chemists glucose, 

 otherwise known as grape sugar. It is in consequence of the 

 presence of this sugar that the juice of the berries when ex- 



supplied for the most part with tendrils, containing an abund- j pressed ferment and give rise to wine, a drink which we have 

 ance of aqueous juice, and having contorted knotty branches. I scriptural authority for saying "rejoices the heart of man." 



\ 



The lower leaves are opposite, the upper ones alternate ; stipules 

 very small, sometimes absent. The flowers are minute, greenish 

 in colour, arranged in a multifloral panicle or a corymbiform 

 cyme. Calyx very small, obscurely dentated, and nearly entire,, 

 surrounded by a disc, on which the petals and stamens are 

 borne. The corolla is polypetalous, or almost polypetalous ; 

 style very short, stigma terminating 

 in a flattened head. Seeds contained 

 in a horny shell ; radicle inferior. 



The Vitacece inhabit all the inter- 

 tropical region, and especially that 

 of Asia. Beyond the tropics they 

 are rare, more especially the Tropic 

 of Capricorn. None are found indi- 

 genous to Europe ; and if wild vines 

 are found in the forests of this con- 

 tinent, the plant is to be regarded 

 us having escaped from domesticity. 



The true country of the vine seems 

 to be Mingrelia and Georgia, be- 

 tween the mountains of the Cau- 

 casus, Ararat, and Taurus. The 

 most ancient traditions mention tho 

 vine as having been made use of 

 by man, the culture of which. may 

 be said to be coeval with the advent 

 of man upon the globe. 



If we examine geographically the 

 culture of the vine as at present 

 circumscribed, we shall find the 

 northern limit of the region to bo 

 bounded on the western coast of 

 Europe by the embouchure . of the 

 Loire. This limit, stretching away 

 to the east, approaches still further 

 towards the north until it attains 

 the fifty-first parallel of latitude at 

 the confluence of the Rhine and 

 Moselle. Vines which grow to the 

 north of this limit no longer furnish 

 wine, and scarcely yield decent vine- 

 gar. The culture of the vine suc- 

 ceeds in the valleys of the Rhine and Danube. In Hungary 

 it does not prosper north of the forty-ninth degree of north 

 latitude ; and in Central Russia it stretches along the northern 

 coast of the Caspian under the forty-eighth parallel. This 

 limit, if viewed in its ensemble, corresponds with an arc, the 

 extremities of which rest westward on the forty-seventh, east- 

 ward on the forty-eighth parallel, and the curve of which rises 

 as high as the fifty-first degree of north latitude. This 

 curvature is explained by the fact that more heat in given time 

 is furnished to plants growing inland than to those which 

 grow near the sea-coast. Passing on from the Caspian Sea 

 towards the East, we see that the vine is not unknown in 

 Bokhara and Northern Persia; but on the southern declivity 

 i>f the Himalaya Range it becomes rare, and altogether dis- 

 appears in the valley of the Indus and the maritime region of 

 Persia. South of the twenty-ninth degree of north latitude it 

 requires to be protected against the ardour of the sun. Under 

 the tropics the vine is sometimes planted in gardens. It 

 grows rapidly, but the fruits always wither before arriving 

 at perfection. In North America the vine is not cultivated 

 beyond the thirty-eighth degree, but many delicious kinds of 

 wine are made in the United States. In the southern hemi- 



213. THE CORINTH GRAPE. 



The general theory of wine-making is as follows: The ripe 

 berries contain glucose, much water, a fermentive principle, 

 mucus, tannic, malic, and nitric acids, and bitartrate of potash 

 (cream of tartar), in addition to many other salts and colour- 

 ing matters. The grapes are crushed by the naked feet of 

 workmen in largo cisterns of wood or stone. On the expiration 

 of a certain time, fermentation 

 commences amongst the various 

 principles of the grape ; the mass 

 becomes hot, owing to certain chemi- 

 cal compositions and decompositions 

 which are taking place ; sugar be- 

 comes changed into alcohol and car- 

 bonic acid, and the liquor becomes 

 inebriating. A scum now rises, which 

 is nothing more than the partially 

 decomposed ferment, and collects in 

 a thick crust. After the lapse of a 

 few more days fermentation ceases. 

 The wine is now formed, and only 

 requires to be cleared. Red wino 

 owes its colour to tho presence of a 

 blue resinoid principle resident in the 

 pellicle of the fruit. The free acids 

 contained in wine cause this blue 

 colour to change to red. This prin- 

 ciple, insoluble in water, is soluble 

 in alchohol, and therefore colours tho 

 wine in proportion as the alcoholic 

 fermentation has become developed. 

 Taking advantage of these prin- 

 ciples, nothing is more common than 

 the preparation of white wine from 

 dark grapes ; all that is necessary to 

 effect the result being the removal of 

 the expressed juice from the grape 

 husks before alcoholic fermentation 

 has set in. 



The preparation of sparkling wines 

 is effected by bottling the juice before 

 fermentation has quite ceased. In 

 this way a portion of carbonic acid, 



which would have escaped under other circumstances, is forcibly 

 retained and dissolved in the wine. 



When grapes are dried they constitute raisins. Tho drying 

 process is either conducted in the sun or artificially. Raisins of 

 Malaga, of Damascus, and of Corinth (currants), are all sun- 

 dried. Valencia and all other raisins are dried by artificial 

 means. The native American representatives of the vine, Vitis 

 vulpina and Vitis labrusca, are but poor substitutes for the 

 species of the Old World, the berries being harsh tasted and 

 sharp in flavour ; nevertheless, the American native grape is 

 not altogether despicable, although it has gained the name of 

 " fox-grape," from its sourness. 



The varieties of the common vine now known are far too 

 numerous for enumeration. Perhaps of all these varieties th 

 ono possessing most interest is tho little Zante or Corinth grape, 

 which yields our so-called currants a corruption, by the way, 

 of Corinths. Strange to say, this grape, it' planted very far away 

 from the Grecian Archipelago, ceases to yield the peculiar grape, 

 but degenerates, and furnishes grapes of ordinary size and 

 character. A representation of tho Corinth grape is subjoined 

 (Fig. 213). These grapes are extensively cultivated in Zante 

 and others of the Ionian Islands for exportation. 



