14 CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



not native to Egypt. The most ancient writers mention 

 it as a native of the hilly region on the southern shore of 

 the Caspian, in the Persian province of Ghilan. Strabo 

 says, that " in the Margiana, a country south-west of the 

 Caspian Sea, now called Ghilan, there are vines which two 

 men can scarcely span, the bunches of which are of ex- 

 traordinary length." Speechly, in his treatise on the vine, 

 page 182, says, " Such another in Margina is spoken of by 

 Strabo, that was twelve feet in circumference." Probably 

 this is the estimated distance, by Speechly, which two 

 men would be able to span. But it must be regarded as 

 an over-estimate, as it is scarcely credible that a vine could 

 be twelve feet in circumference. We know, however, that 

 columns in Juno's temple at Metapont, and also a statue 

 of Jupiter for the city of Apollonium, were made from the 

 wood of the vine. The great doors of the cathedral at 



Ravenna are made of vine-planks, some of which are 



\ 

 twelve feet long and fifteen inches broad. 



The Hampton-Court vine is the most famous in England. 

 It was planted in 1769, and now covers over twenty-two 

 hundred square feet ; having a stem thirty inches in cir- 

 cumference at three feet from the ground, and bearing an 

 annual crop of about a ton of Black Hamburg grapes. It 

 has produced twenty-five hundred large bunches in a 



