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GRAPE-VINE. VITIS. 



Natural order, Hederacea. A genus of the Penfandria 

 Monogt/uia class. 



" Great father Bacchus, to my song repair ; 

 For clust'ring grapes are thy peculiar care : 

 For thee, large bunches load the bending vine, 

 And the last blessings of the year are thine. 

 To thee his joy the jolly Autumn owes, 

 When the fermenting juice the vat o'erflows. 

 Come strip with me, my god ; come drench all o'er 

 Thy limbs in musk of wine, and drink at ev'ry pore." 



THE generic name is derived from vincire, to bind. 



The cultivation of the vine appears to have attracted 

 the attention of man from the earliest times of which we 

 have any account. Every part of the Scripture mentions 

 the vine as being held in the highest estimation. " Noah 

 planted vineyards, and made wine." Vines are mentioned 

 among the blessings of the promised land, " a land of 

 wheat, and barley, and vines," &c. 



The patriarchs and prophets frequently represent in 

 scripture the flourishing state of a nation, a tribe, or a 

 family, under the emblem of a vine. " Thou hast brought 

 a vine out of Egypt, thou hast cast out the heathen, and 

 planted it; thou preparedst room before it, and didst 

 cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land." Psalm 

 Ixxx. Again the Psalmist mentions it, " Thy wife shall 

 be as the fruitful vine, upon the walls of thine house." 



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