THE VINE IN VENETIA. 841 



diso and Bianchetto are the commonest of white grapes throughout North- 

 ern Italy, and need no description. Besides these varieties, evidently 

 of the ordinary stock, the red and white Muscadel are abundant, with 

 larger and more oval fruit, of a decided musky flavor, called the Fragola 

 (strawberry) grape by the Venetians, and a certain quantity of the 

 small, deep-colored fruit of the wild species, in long, close bunches, with 

 the pungent sweetness everywhere familiar. 



The absence of trees and want of space on the diminutive islands 

 where these grapes are grown have made close cultivation a necessity. 

 The vines are planted 4 and 5 feet from each other, in rows about 3 

 yards apart, and trained on gratings of lattice, slanted from about 5 feet 

 9 inches, the height of a man, to within 2J feet of the ground, or else 

 on upright espaliers or trellises around the inclosures or on the banks 

 of the numerous canals and ditches which intersect these amphibious 

 gardens in every direction. The plants are tended with the care and 

 attention of the market gardener, and so far have been free from ail 

 the prevalent diseases of the vine. 



The nature of the climate is a sufficient guaranty against any risk 

 of injury to the fruit from sea-fogs and mists, the long summer heats 

 and frequent droughts being the dangers most to be apprehended, and 

 often compromising the success of crops of every kind. Fogs are rare 

 at all times, and during the season of vegetation absolutely unknown, 

 while tbe ordinary evening mist from the water does not prevail till late 

 in autumn, when the sun, sinking early toward the horizon, loses some- 

 what of its dissipating power. The rare wet seasons cause an occa- 

 sional falling off by preventing the full maturity of the grapes, but the 

 permanent enemy is drought, which the vine certainly fears less than 

 many other plants. 



VINEYARDS ON THE MAINLAND. 



On the mainland the plan is far from receiving the same careful and 

 rational treatment. Every traveler has been charmed with the grace- 

 ful luxuriance of the vine-mantled trees which border the routes of 

 Northern Italy with their interminable festoons, and overrun the coun- 

 try, making it an ideal picture of exuberant vegetation, but an example 

 of the worst possible farming, say the specialists. From time immemo- 

 rial the Venetian cultivator has imitated the simple arrangement of 

 nature in marrying the vine to its primitive support, and the best proof 

 of the inexhaustible fertility of the region is the fact that with such a 

 system he succeeds in producing delicious grapes and passable wine. 

 Efforts are made to introduce vineyard culture, but the want of capital 

 or impatience for hasty gain still prevails, and in the Valpolicella dis- 

 trict of Verona, where the choicest of Venetian wine is made, the old 

 system is universal, while in Conegliano some of the new plantations 

 commenced under the auspices of the school there have been torn up, 

 and the number of vineyards has rather diminished during the past ten 



