THE GRAPE. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE GEAPE. 



Vitis vinifera, L. Vitacees, of botanists. 

 Vigne, of the French ; Weintrauben, German ; Vigna, Italian ; Vid, or Vina, Spanish. 



THE history of the grape is almost as old as that of man. 

 Growing in its highest perfection in Syria and Persia, its lus- 

 cious fruit and the unrivalled beverage which its fermented juice 

 affords, recommended it to the especial care of the patriarchal 

 tillers of the soil, and vineyards were extensively planted, long 

 before orchards or collections of other fruit trees were at all 

 common. 



The grapes of the old world are all varieties of the wine 

 grape, ( Vitis vinifera,) which, though so long and so universally 

 cultivated and naturalized in all the middle and southern por- 

 tions of Europe, is not a native of that continent, but came ori- 

 ginally from Persia. From the latter country, as civilization ad- 

 vanced westward, this plant accompanied it first to Egypt, then 

 to Greece and Sicily, and gradually to Italy, Spain, France 

 and Britain, to which latter country the Romans carried it about 

 two hundred years after Christ. To America the seeds and 

 plants of the European varieties were brought by numerous 

 emigrants and colonists within the first fifty years after its set- 

 tlement. 



The wild grapes of our own country are quite distinct species 

 from the wine grape of Europe are usually stronger in their 

 growth, with larger and more entire foliage, and, in their native 

 state, with a peculiar foxy odour or flavour, and more or less 

 hardness of pulp. These traits, however, disappear in process 

 of cultivation, and we have reason to hope that we shall soon 

 obtain, from the wild type, new varieties of high quality, and 

 of superiour hardiness and productiveness in this climate. 



The grape vine is in all cases a trailing or climbing deciduous 

 shrub, living to a great age,* and, in its native forests, clamber, 

 ing over the tops of the tallest trees. In the deep rich alluvial 

 soils of western America, it is often seen attaining a truly pro- 

 digious size, and several have been measured on the banks of 

 the Ohio, the stems of which, were three feet in circumference, 

 and the branches two hundred feet long, enwreathing and fes- 



* Pliny gives an account of a vine six hundred years old, and there are said to 

 be vines in Burgundy more than four hundred years old. 



