184 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



in the year 1769, has a' stem of thirteen inches in girth, 

 and a principal branch one hundred and fourteen feet in 

 length, which, in one year, produced two thousand and 

 two hundred bunches of grapes, each weighing, on an 

 average, a pound. His late revered Majesty enjoyed the 

 fruit of this vine half a* century. Fruit was the only 

 luxury in which he indulged himself, and that was culti- 

 vated in the Royal Gardens to the highest perfection, and 

 served at table in great abundance. 



Mr. Eden planted a vine of the Black Hamburgh sort, 

 at Valentine House, Essex, in the year 1758, which is the 

 parent of the vine ut Hampton-Court, and has extended 

 itself to upwards of two hundred feet in length, being so 

 productive that it ripened two thousand bunches of 

 grapes in the year 1819. 



Speechly describes a vine, which was growing in the 

 open air at Northallerton, in Yorkshire, in 1789, that had 

 once covered a space containing one hundred and thirty- 

 seven square yards ; and it was judged, that, had it been 

 permitted, it would have extended to three or four times 

 that space. The circumference of the stem, a little 

 above the ground, is three feet eleven inches : it is sup- 

 posed to have been planted 150 years. 



In Jamaica, and some other of the West India islands, 

 the vine produces two and often three crops a-year. 

 Both Brown and Lunan observe, that grape-vines produce 

 most abundantly in Jamaica, particularly the Muscadine, 

 which ripens all its berries nearly at the same time, and 

 has clusters of the fruit from eight to ten pounds weight ; 

 the pulp of which has been found less watery, and more 

 fleshy, than the same fruit in the south of France, and 

 yet the making of wine, even for the consumption of the 

 island, has never been attempted. 



Domesday book mentions, at Rageneia, in Essex, one 

 park and six arpennies of vineyard, which, if successful, 





