186 llctrospective Criticism. 



succeed common beans, and afterwards wheat or any other grain without 

 manure. In soils less arid, the rotation is begun with potatoes, hemp, buck- 

 wheat, and wheat. In every case the seed should be used sparingly. On ar- 

 tificial meadows charcoal dust is sprinkled in spring on the surface, as is 

 practised with chalk and lands containing saltpetre. As to the quantity, the 

 Abbe Piccone computes about an equal weight between charcoal and woollen 

 I'ags, skins, and even scrapings of bones : a rubbo (about 18 lb. avoirdupois) 

 of charcoal to two of new urine ; three of night-soil well digested ; four of 

 fresh, and six of common, manure. After this, he advises, for olive grounds, 

 vineyards, orange gardens, or orchards, to allow an interval of four years for 

 the first time, five for the second, and six for the third, and so on between 

 every manuring, taking care always to increase the quantity according to the 

 growth of the trees." And since we are in the way, allow me to compare 

 some articles in the Gardener's Magazine with some in the Latin authors de 

 re rustica, on the preservation of fruit, &c. 



Preservatio7i of Grapes. In the Gardener''s Magazine for IS^l, p. 646., the 

 author says, " and (I) cut the whole of the grapes remaining, with a joint or 

 two or more of wood below the bunch. I make a clean cut, and apply 

 sealing-wax, as hot as can be used, to it, and seal the wood closely, so that 

 no air can enter in the tissues communicating with the bunch. I then hang 

 the bunches upon cords suspended across a closet in a cool airy room, taking 

 care that they do not touch each other ; and, after this, they are cut down as 

 wanted. To succeed, much depends on the situation where the grapes are 

 preserved ; they must not be exposed to a current of warm air, nor yet be so 

 damp as to cause mould. The bunches being well sealed is a most important 

 point to be attended to." 



Varro, in chap. Iviii. De Re rustica, in answer to Cato, says, " Cato ait, 

 uvam Aminneam miniusculam et majorem, et Apiciam, in oUis commodissime 

 condes :" and Cato, in chap. vii. De Re rustica, " Haec," that is, the grapes, 

 " in oUis, ollae in vinariis, conduntur ; eadem in sapa, in musto, in lora recte 

 conduntur." Thus far little or nothing can be understood ; but let us hear 

 Columella, who describes the process at length in chap, xliii. *' As soon as 

 you have cut the bunches of grapes, either those with large berries, or hard 

 or purple berries, pitch over the footstalks immediately with hard pitch ; then 

 fill a new jar of burnt clay (new, because it should have no smell) with well 

 dried straw free from dust, and spread the bunches on the straw ; then cover 

 this with another vase, and smear them all round with clay very thick and 

 mixed with small pieces of straw ; and in this state the jars are put on a dry 

 floor, where they are surrounded with straw. Every sort of grape may be 

 preserved, provided they are gathered in the waning moon, after it is set, in a 

 clear sky, after the fourth hour of the day, when the sun has dried up the 

 dew. But the fire should be lighted as near as possible to boil the pitch in 

 which the stalks of the grapes are to be dipped." 



Now I ask, what difference is there in the application and effect, between 

 the sealing-iuax of G. G. and the dura pix of the rustici Latini ? To succeed 

 well, the English author observes that the bunches should neither be exposed 

 to currents of warm air nor to damp ; and this is what Columella effectually 

 provides against by placing his grapes in burnt earthen jars on clean and 

 dry straw, and covering them hermetically with other jars, which he besmears 

 with clay. 



The uncle of Columella, however, made use of another method. " Marcus 

 ,- Columella, my uncle, ordered long jars, like dishes, to be made of the clay of 

 which amphorae are made, and desired them to be coated, outside and in, with 

 a good coat of pitch. This being done, he had the grapes gathered, purple 

 grapes, those with large berries, the Numidian, and hard-berried sort, and 

 immediately immersed the stalks in boiling pitch, and put each sort of grapes 

 in separate jars, so that the bunches did not touch each other; he then fitted 

 on the lids to the dishes, which he smeared with a thick coat of cement, and 

 then plastered them with hard pitch melted at the fire, in such a way that no 

 moisture could penetrate to them : finally, he plunged these jars in spring 



