16 CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



observation. It is a single vine, the main stock being ten 

 feet in circumference. It is trained upon a trellis sixty 

 feet in diameter. My informant, with another person, 

 counted seven thousand bunches ; and the estimated yield 

 was eighteen thousand pounds of fruit. Can this be 

 beaten?" 



It is difficult to estimate the longevity of the vine, the 

 yearly growth not being distinctly marked, as is the case 

 with, many trees. That it, however, attains a great age, 

 is beyond question. Pliny names a vine which was six 

 hundred years old. The vines of Italy bear fruit for 

 three hundred years, and vines a hundred years of age 

 are accounted young. Professor Bosc states that there 

 are vines in Burgundy upwards of four hundred years old. 

 Doubtless there are vines of much greater age, were we 

 able to ascertain the fact. At least, it is evident that the 

 vine, under favorable circumstances, may be regarded as 

 " a permanent institution." 



It is surprising under what variety of conditions the vine 

 exists. The instances of size which are cited above indi- 

 cate that the vine aspires to overtop the mightiest mon- 

 archs of the forest, and overspreads a surface of even two 

 hundred feet in circumference. In contrast, the vines in 

 the most famous vineyards of France and the Rhine are 



