THE VINE IN VENETIA. 843 



Valpolicella, often require to be terraced thus with a succession of sus- 

 taining walls, and are in such localities so closely planted that in a few 

 years the tendrils are festooned not only from plant to plant but from 

 row to row a thing never permitted in the plain, where this cross- 

 festooning would obstruct plowing for other crops in the intervening 

 spaces. 



Generally both the vine and its support are pruned low and only al- 

 lowed to spread horizontally, the vine, as it extends beyond its sus- 

 taining limbs, being led over their forks and left pendent till long 

 enough to be attached by its extremities to those of a neighboring 

 plant; more rarely bound to upper limbs it mounts to the height of the 

 tree, since at a certain distance from the earth it loses its vigor and steril- 

 izes. At Valpolicella, the sustaining plant, after reaching the neces- 

 sary size and force, is often killed, that it may no longer rob the vine 

 of its nutriment. 



During the earlier period of its growth the vine is pruned rigorously 

 to confine its vigor to the portion by which it attaches itself to the tree, 

 lopping all but the clinging tendrils. Afterwards the practice is to re- 

 trench the higher shoots and force it to bear as low as possible, remov- 

 ing at the same time those which have borne for one or more years, the 

 better to re-enforce those intended to bear the succeeding year. Accord- 

 ing to treatment and situation, the vine begins to give a profitable crop 

 at from three to six years. 



VARIETIES OF GRAPE. 



Of the 200 or more indistinct varieties, confusedly attributed to the 

 various districts of the territory, not more than 25 are cultivated to any 

 extent or furnish a product of commercial value. 



The principal of these for the district of Verona, the base and sub- 

 stance of its most generous wine, is the Corvina, a close-growing viue, 

 whose branches, with little tendency to spread, are thickly budded and 

 bear an unusual abundance of rather small fruit in pyramid-shaped 

 clusters. This grape is specially rich in all the elements for vinification, 

 saccharine, saline, coloring, and tannic, and is at its best along the bases 

 of the hills and in the upper valleys. On higher ground it changes its 

 character somewhat, with lighter and longer branches ; the fruit is less 

 crowded and abundant, extremely sweet, and delicious for table use. 

 As a rule, the red varieties succeed better on the hillside, the white in 

 the valley, and the same plant removed to a higher level changes more 

 or less, the fruit becoming rarer and smaller, but more concentrated in 

 quality, while both it and the stems take a deeper color. This altera- 

 tion the cultivators call u ingentilire? The Corvina is the only grape 

 capable of producing superior wine alone and without mixture, though 

 to heighten its excellent qualities it generally figures only for 45 to 50 

 per cent, in the best fabrication. 



Next in value is the Terodola, a plant more spreading than the above, 



