in the Temperature of TFinter. 23 



Strabo says, Gaul produces not figs and olives north 

 of the Cevennes ; and grapes do not come to maturity.* 



Diodorus Siculus goes further, and asserts that Gaul 

 produces neither figs nor olives.... Zi^. 5. 



Strabo is correct, as to figs and olives ; for they will 

 not come to perfection, at this day, north of the Ceven- 

 nes. 



Diodorus Siculus is an author of less credit, and iit 

 the instance before us, we have proof of his inaccuracy. 



Pliny, whose authority in this case must be indisputa- 

 ble, expressly mentions the wine made in Auvergne, 

 Languedoc, Dauphiny, Burgundy, and French Compte. 

 " Jam inventa vitis per se in vino picem resipiens Vin- 

 nensem agrum nobilitans,. Arverno, Sequanoque, et Hel- 

 vico generibus non pridem illustrata"....Zz6. xiv. cc. 1. 

 This species of vine, he observes, was unknown ninety 

 years before, in the age of Virgil ; and consequently was 

 not known to Diodorus Siculus, who was cotemporary 

 with Virgil. Strabo lived somewhat later, and had more 

 correct information. This wine constituted the glory of 

 that part of France formerly inhabited by the Allobroges, 

 now called Dauphiny and Viennois, extending on the east 

 side of the Rhone, from the Lemanic lake to its mouth, 

 and was highly valued at Rome. 



Pliny expressly mentions a species of the olive which 

 thrived in Gaul beyond the Alps. " Quce nunc provenit 

 trans Alpes, quoque, et in Gallias, Hispaniasque me- 

 dias."....Z/i(^. XV. 1. 



Strabo says the olive will not produce fruit, to the 

 north of the Cevennes. 



It is remarkable that the limits of the olive region, here 

 designated, are precisely those to which that tree is now 

 confined. The line, beyond which olives will not pro- 



* It is well known that there are many varieties of grapes, and 

 some far less hardy tl^an others. The Romans might attempt to 

 propagate, in the north of France, some varieties which thrived well 

 in the south, and in Italy, but which would not come to maturity in 

 a climate eight or ten degrees faither north ; and fiom some instan-^ 

 ces of failure, might conclude that no vines would come to perfec- 

 tion in that country. I believe there are many varieties now culti- 

 vated in Italy and Greece, which would not come to perfection ia 

 the north of France^ 



