490 [ THE VINE. 



such as the elrn, the maple, the lime, the poplar, the 

 willow, the ash and even the oak, and now more 

 frequently with fruit trees such as the mulberry, the 

 ch rry, the fig, the peach, the pear, the apple, the olive, 

 the walnut, the almond, etc. the trees being planted at 

 distances varying from 3 to 5 metres or more according 

 to the quality of trees and the size to which they grow, 

 the vines being planted at the same time as the trees. 

 No doubt this very a icient method of growing the vine 

 is exceedingly picturesque and far from being irrational, 

 as the vine has full scope to exercize its climbing habit, 

 and is trained in various ways but chiefly in festoons 

 extending from tree to tree. These so called atberate 

 or viti arbostive are of course somewhat difficult to treat 

 for mildew or blight, but otherwise they are said to 

 produce as good wines as other vines, and they are 

 generally heavy croppers Not all trees seem to be 

 equally suitable for this method of cultivation of the 

 vine, the maple and the elm are said to be the best, and 

 among fruit trees the best are the apricot, the cherry, the 

 plum, the peach grown on plum stock, the pomegranate, 

 the apple and the pear. The mulberry and the fig are 

 less satisfactory. The vine does not agree well with 

 either the almond, the olive or the walnut, but vines 

 grown among prickly pears in this Island seem to do 

 fairly well if the soil is ar all suitable. 



The vine married to the elm-tree has been sung by 

 Virgil, and this association of the vine with other trees, 

 particularly with fruit trees, though it may not be so 

 remunerative as the specialized vineyard is so suited to 

 the means of the small grower, and also to the require- 

 ments of a large estate, that there is no probability that 

 it will ever become so obsolete, as to be completely 

 superseded by other methods. However, for such a dry 

 c.imate as that of the Maltese Islands, where the soil is 

 also generally too shallow to permit the development of 



