GRAPES. 243 



CULTIVATION. 



These varieties of mulberry will flourish in almost any 

 soil, but grow most luxuriantly in a deep, sandy loam, 

 rather in a humid than dry soil. They are propagated by 

 seeds or by layers, and sometimes by cuttings. The seeds 

 are obtained by washing the bruised pulp of thoroughly ripe 

 fruit; they are carefully dried, and sown early in April, in 

 a rich soil, and covered to the depth of half an inch with 

 loam, and pressed down compactly. The second year, they 

 are transplanted to nursery rows. 



VINE. (Vitis vinifera.) 



The grape vine is a deciduous tree, with an irregular, 

 contorted stem, and long, flexible branches. They trail on 

 the earth, or, connected by their tendrils to trees, they rise 

 vertically, even to the summits of those which crown the 

 forest. The leaves are large, smooth, or downy, serrated, 

 lobed, or entire. The leaves and footstalks of the white 

 or yellow grapes, change from a green to a yellow color, 

 late in autumn; and those of the red or black grapes, to 

 a reddish hue. The blossoms are produced in long clus- 

 ters or racemes, from the wood of the same year ; they 

 possess a fragrant odor. The fruit is in clusters, the ber- 

 ries round or oblong ; their color varying from white or 

 yellow to red, to blue, or to black. The pulp contains a 

 juice, rich, saccharine, and abundant, of surpassing flavor. 

 The berries contain from one or two to five small stones. 

 Those, however, of the Ascalon, or Corinth, and the Sul- 

 tana, have none. 



The vine is a native of the temperate regions. Its his- 

 tory is traced to a very ancient date in Persia. It is cul- 

 tivated extensively for wine in every part of Europe 

 favorable to its growth, from the Mediterranean Sea to 

 the latitude of 51 ; also in South Africa, and the African 

 isles of the Atlantic, and in Greece. It is also cultivated 

 in Barbary and Egypt, and in all those parts of Asia 



