ON WINE. 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE GKAPE. 



THE quality of a particular vegetable is not unfre- 

 quently affected by external influences, so that it 

 assumes a different character, which is distinctly im- 

 printed upon the leaves or other parts, and may even 

 to a certain extent be perpetuated. This property for 

 the most part belongs to all organic bodies, and may 

 be observed equally in the animal as in the vegetable 

 kingdom. The dog is always a dog, but the New- 

 foundland and the lap dog, the sheep dog and the 

 greyhound, differ from one another in no small degree. 

 The cow is everywhere a cow, but differs in form in 

 every part of the earth in which she is found. 



Plants being still more dependent upon external 

 influences than animals (which are restricted to no 

 particular place), exhibit this peculiarity in a very 

 high degree. The varieties of geranium, pelargonium, 

 of the rose and dahlia, which belong nevertheless to one 

 genus, are unlimited. 



