OPEN AIR GRAPE CULTURE, 



CHAPTER I. 



NATUEAL AND CIVIL HISTORY OF THE VINE. 



Peofajste history readies not back to the time when 

 man first planted a vineyard and made wine, and 

 when we leave the sacred records, its first culture is 

 shrouded in allegories, myths and fables. 



The native country of the vine cannot be well ascer- 

 tained. It occurs wild in Greece, Italy and even in 

 the south of France. In Mingrelia, Georgia and the 

 regions between Caucasus and Ararat ahd Taurus, it 

 flourishes in extreme vigor and great abundance. 

 And that it is indigenous to America, also, there can 

 be no doubt, the apocryphal stories about its intro- 

 ' duction by Sir W. Raleigh to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. 



Records of its culture are found in most of the 

 poems and sculptures of antiquity. The shield of 



