258 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



the raisins of Malaga are preferred by foreigners, 

 and are sold at a higher price : to this their quality 

 may likewise contribute ; they are naturally larger, 

 and more delicate, than those of the kingdom of 

 Valencia." 



A vineyard, associated as it is with all our ideas of 

 beauty and plenty, is, in general, a disappointing 

 object. The hop plantations of our own country 

 are far more picturesque. In France, the vines are 

 trained upon poles, seldom more than three or four 

 feet in height; and "the pole-clipt vineyard" of 

 ])oetry is not the most inviting of real objects. In 

 Spain, poles for supporting vines are not used ; but 

 cuttings are planted, which are not permitted to grow 

 very high, but gradually form thick and stout stocks. 

 In Switzerland, and in the German provinces, the 

 vineyards are as formal as those of France, But in 

 Italy is found the true vine of poetry, " surrounding 

 the stone cottage with its girdle, flinging its pliant 

 and luxuriant branches over the rustic viranda, or 

 twining its long garland from tree to tree*." It 

 was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and 

 her olives that tempted the rude people of the North 

 to pour down upon her fertile fields. 



In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the 

 vines are either trained upon trees, or supported, so 

 as to display all their luxuriance, upon a series of 

 props. This was the custom of the ancient vine- 

 growers ; and their descendants have preserved it in 

 all its picturesque originality t. The vine-dressers 

 of Persia train their vines to nm up a wall, and curl 

 over on the top. But the most luxurious cultivation 

 of the vine in hot countries is where it covers the 

 trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the 

 owner and his family to gather beneath its shade. 



* The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829. 

 f See the second Georgic of Virgil. 



