THE GEAPE. 129 



though certainly a vine abounds in America, it is no 

 longer the vine, the sacred plant of the son of Semele. 

 This wild climber, peculiar to the New World, has, as 

 Humboldt says, given rise to the general error that the 

 vinifera is common to the two continents, whereas in 

 truth the Vitis vulpina of America is of another and far 

 lower caste, long looked upon as a very pariah of vines, 

 tainted it was thought indelibly with a flavour which 

 could only be described, according to the indication of its 

 specific name, as " foxy." As the fruit is fine in appear- 

 ance, and the leaves, which are but very slightly lobed, 

 are much larger than those of the European vine, it is 

 sometimes grown in England for ornamental purposes, 

 but has never been much esteemed on any other ground 

 either here or, until quite of late years, even in its native 

 clime, owing to the hardness of pulp and strong disa- 

 greeable savour by which the grapes were distinguished. 

 But though it seemed that the fox had thus " spoiled the 

 vineyards " in a manner unthought of by Solomon, so that 

 when the manufacture was first attempted, even the wine 

 made from these native grapes retained a brand of the 

 " brush " which rendered them far from pleasant to many 

 palates, later experience would seem to show that this 

 was only because they were, in the words of an American 

 writer, " generally but one remove from a wild! state, acci- 

 dentally improved varieties that sprang up in woods and 

 fields from wild vines." Por some years past our Trans- 

 atlantic brethren have laboured not in vain to induce the 

 rosy god to smile upon them, and eventually crown their 

 bowl with a native nectar free from vulpine or any other 

 offensive taint. 



The vine of Europe was introduced into America by 

 colonists within 50 years after their first settlement in 

 that continent ; but the climate of the States, so favour- 

 able to almost all other fruits, is singularly inauspicious 

 to the foreign grape. In any case it requires great atten- 

 tion, and seldom bears good fruit except when quite 

 young, and for vineyard cultivation is utterly unsuitable, 

 experiments having been tried again and again under the 

 most favourable circumstances by men of capital and prac- 



