90 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



from two Latin words, vinum, wine, and /ero, bear, whence wine-hearing plant. 

 The common name, grape, is from the old French rappe, a bunch or cluster. 



Historij. — The grape was known to man at a ver}^ early period of his 

 existence. Mention of this fruit comes down to us among the first records of 

 history. Pictures left by the ancient Egyptians, and remains by the lake- 

 dwellers of Italy and Switzerland, from the bronze age, reveal to us that the 

 grape was known to those peoples. It was cultivated in Egypt as early as 

 4000 B. C. ; not in China until 122 B. C. The Egyptians and the Greeks 

 both have a mythological history of the introduction of tlie grape. 



The ancient Scriptures frequently speak of the grape. The weight of his- 

 tory points to western Asia as the home of the species known as the Vitis 

 vinifera, but there seems little doubt that it is also native to Europe. It is 

 supposed to have been introduced into England by the Romans, yet it was not 

 known there during the time of Agricola, Avho was governor in the reign of 

 Claudius Caesar, about 78 years after the beginning of the Christian era. But 

 among the earliest conveyances of estates under the Saxon rule vineyards are 

 named. And in the reign of William the Norman vine^-ards are among the 

 valuables enumerated in the Dooms-Day Book. ' It is also recorded that in 

 the twelfth century there was a vineyard attached to every monastery in the 

 south of England. 



The grape is indigenous to America, and much attention lias of late years 

 been given to its cultivation. In the United States it has become a very large 

 and important industry, and considerable wine is made in Ohio, Indiana. New 

 York, and in California. 



The best wines and brandies are made in southern Europe. Soutliern Ger- 

 many, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Madeira are wine-making countries ; but 

 France is the great wine-producing nation. More tlian .500,000,000 gallons 

 are produced annually in France alone. In Spain and Portugal much atten- 

 tion is paid to the production of raisins, which are the sweet grapes of these 

 countries dried. Along the southern shores of Spain and Greece the grape 

 forms sugar in abundance, but does not easily enter into vinous fermentation, 

 hence the fruit is dried ; and the raisin crop is one of great economic and 

 commercial importance. 



Cultivation. — The vine requires a high summer temperature and a pro- 

 longed period in which to ripen its fruit. When these conditions exist it can 

 be profitably cultivated, even though the winter temperature be very low. In 

 the Alps it is profitably cultivated to an altitude of 1 870 feet, and in the north 

 of Piedmont as high as 3180 feet. 



Use. — The grape is among the most delicious and highly prized fruits of 

 the temperate zone. It is a great favorite as a dessert, and for a table orna- 

 ment has no equal; it is also preserved, and is a favorite jelly material. 

 The raisin, or grape in a dried state, is also a favorite dessert. In central 

 and southern France and Italy the chief use made of the grape is for the 

 manufacture of wine. The common wines are cheap, but the finer sorts cost 

 several dollars a bottle. 



Argols is the commercial name for the crude deposit from wine, which 

 forms on the bottom and sides of wine casks, from which Cream of Tartar, or 

 Bitartrate of Potassa, and Tartaric Acid are obtained. 



Diseases of the Vine. — The organic diseases which affect the vine may be 

 divided into two categories, — those caused by parasitic fungi, and those 

 caused by insects. In 1849 the vine in France, southern Germany, Italy, 

 and Spain was attacked by a mildew fungus, Oidum Tiickeri, which in many 



