THE VINE. 259 



The vine lasts to a considerable age ; it spreads 

 also to a large extent, or, when supported, rises to a 

 great height. Although it bears at three or four 

 years plentifully, it is said that vineyards improve in 

 quality till they are fifty years old.* Pliny mentions 

 a vine which had attained the age of six hundred 

 years. In France and Italy there are entire vine- 

 yards still in existence, and in full bearing, which 

 were in the same condition at least three centuries 

 ago, and have so continued ever since. The slender 

 stems of ordinary vines, when they have attained a 

 considerable age, are remarkably tough and compact; 

 and the timber of the very old ones in foreign coun- 

 tries, which is occasionally of size enough for being 

 sawn into planks, and being made into furniture and 

 utensils, is almost indestructible. Strabo mentions 

 an old vine which two men could not embrace. A 

 single vine plant, which was trained against a row of 

 houses at Northallerton, covered, in 1785, one hun- 

 dred and thirty-seven square yards. It was then 

 about a hundred years old, and it increased in size 

 afterwards ; but it is now dead. In 1785, the prin- 

 cipal stem of this vine was about fifteen inches in 

 diameter. 



Of the variety of the vine called the black Ham- 

 burgh there are several remarkable trees in England, 

 covering a great extent of surface, and bearing (under 

 glass) a profusion of the finest fruit. Of these, among 

 the most celebrated are the Hampton Court vine, and 

 the vine at Valentines, in Essex. The Hampton 

 Court vine is in a grape-house on the north side of 

 the palace: it covers a surface of twenty-two feet by 

 seventy-two, or 1694 square feet. It is a most pro- 

 ductive bearer, having seldom fewer than' two thou- 

 sand clusters upon it every season. In the year 1816, 

 there were at least 2240, weighing each, on the 



* Miller. 



