258 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



trained upon poles, seldom more than three or four 

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

 poetry 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: 



" The prostrate South to the destroyer yields 

 Her boasted titles and her golden fields; 

 With grim delight the brood of winter view 

 A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue, 

 Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose, 

 And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows T" 



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

 vines are either trained upon trees, or supported, so 

 as to display aH 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. J The vine-dressers 

 of Persia train their vines to run 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 fruitful bough by a well" is of the highest 

 antiquity. 



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

 t Gray's Alliance of Education and Government. 

 See the second Georgic of Virgil. 



