Decembm 12, 1372. ] 



JOURNAL 07 HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



4G9 



the wire, it is a great chance if it be not bruised ; or if the 

 matting become tightened by the swelling of the wood, so as 

 to enter the bark, gumming will most likely follow. Again, 

 all loose shoots that are not secured against being continually 

 moved by the wind will most likely become bruised, and 

 gummy exudations will shortly be seen coming from the 

 wound. In the growing season all trees so trained, more 

 especially fast-growing young trees, should be looked over 

 every week in order to guard against all the evils above alluded 

 to ; and I believe it matters not whether the wire used be gal- 

 vanised or plaiu common wire, the same results may be ex- 

 pected if proper attention be not paid to the trees. Some 

 people are accustomed to give the wire a coat of paint every 

 season, even though it may be galvanised ; but I have never 

 discovered that it is to any extent a preventive against the 

 gumming of the trees. I should like to hear what others say 

 about the use of galvanised wire for fruit trees. — T. Record. 



HISTORICAL NOTICE OF THE VINE. 



It must have been in the east that the culture of the Vine 

 first took its origin. The hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyp- 

 tian temples show us that the making of wine dates back to as 

 far as six thousand years from the present time. Vintage and 

 wine-making scenes are still to be found in the tomb of Phtah- 

 hatep, situated in the necropolis of Memphis, which were 

 depicted under the fifth dynasty, or about 1000 B.C. They are 

 in " has relief," and represent the cutting of the Grapes, and 

 the trampling of them in the wine-press in order to extract 

 the juice. The picture is terminated by a man in a drunken 

 condition, which shows that even at that early period wine 

 was not always partaken of in moderation. 



In the other vintage scenes, reproduced by Champollion, are 

 ■portrayed the cultivation of the Vine on wicker frames, the 

 gathering of the bunches, the system of watering employed in 

 those days, the trampling of the fruit by men, held up by a 

 cord attached to a tranverse beam supported upon two forked 

 props, and finally, those untrustworthy vintagers who, in a 

 drunken state, are receiving the persuasions of the bastinando 

 in the presence of their master. Champollion also tells us, 

 that at a feast celebrated at Alexandria, 281 years before the 

 birth of Christ, on the occasion of the accession of Ptolemy 

 Philadelphus to the throne, a chariot in honour of wine was 

 included among those which formed part of the procession. 

 It was a four-wheeled one, 20 cubits long and 16 broad, and 

 was drawn by a team of three hundred men. In the middle 

 was constructed a wine-press full of Grapes, which sixty satyrs 

 trod, singing at the same time the wine-pressers' song to the 

 accompaniment of the flute and other musical instruments. 

 In this ceremony were also many children, who carried vessels 

 for serving-out the wine, of which twenty were gold, fifty 

 silver, and three hundred of variously-coloured enamels. Vines 

 were often trained to wicker trellises, and were very regularly 

 "watered and tended during the time of the ancient Egyptians. 

 Those used for the purpose of wine-making wore in general 

 the ones which remained over after the daily wants of the 

 possessor had been satisfied. When cut they were carried in 

 baskets to a tub placed between two Date Palms, where they 

 were imrnediately trodden out by men, supported by a rope 

 which hung from one Palm tree to the other, or by means of 

 the appliance we have noted above. The offering of wine is 

 often delineated in the representations of religious rites. It is 

 here seen shut-up in large jars, Which are firmly closed-up and 

 ranged along the cellars. 



The production of cooked wine is also figured upon the 

 monuments of ancient Egypt. The Grapes are placed in a large 

 pot hung over a lighted furnace, and when sufficiently boiled 

 the must and dregs are put into cloth, through which the 

 clarified wine escapes into jars on the application of a strong 

 twist given to the cloth by means of levers moved by hand- 

 power. In another hieroglyphic the wine-press is in the form 

 of a square tub, above which is a beam placed upon two forks. 

 From this beam are hung strips of wood between which the 

 Grapes are crashed, or bands of cloth in which they are 

 pressed. 



Dion reproaches the Egyptians with being great bibbers. 

 The class which was prevented from drinking wine on account 

 of their poverty, indulged in a kind of barley beer mixed with 

 a bitter infusion of Lupin. Aristotle used to assert that those 

 who became drunk with wine fell forwards, whilst those who 

 got drunk upon beer fell backwards. Athenams declares that 

 drunkenness can be combated by eating boiled Cabbages. In 



ancient times the priests used to oppose the cultivation of the 

 Vine, and tried even to put a stop to it. What justifies this 

 feeling of the priests upon the dangers likely to result from 

 the abuse of wine under a climate such as theirs, is, that the 

 most part of the North African people had adopted this mea- 

 sure long before the birth of the Prophet. The Egyptian 

 priests contended that the use of wine prevented the wise men 

 and philosophers from making discoveries, and that is why the 

 Egyptian priest Calasiris, who played such a large part in the 

 story of Heliodorus, refused constantly to drink it. This way 

 of thinking, no doubt, arose from the fact that they applied 

 themselves much to the study of geometry and astronomy, 

 two sciences which require a great concentration of the mind. 

 It is known that the effect of wine is bad in hot countries, 

 and this is why none of it was ever presented to the Pharaohs. 



Pythagoras, also, adopted without restriction, the injunction 

 of the Egyptian priests concerning wine. Moses, however, 

 did not pay the slightest regard to it, and allowed his people 

 to drink this liquor, for which they showed a peculiar pro- 

 pensity. Noah planted and cultivated the Vine in the old 

 land of Gessen, now called Bir-aban-ballah, and at the present 

 time one of the most beautiful agricultural districts belonging 

 to the Khedive. With regard to Noah's Vine, here is a legend 

 which has reference to the deluge. 



When the ark was cleared of all the animals which had been 

 shut-up in it in order to escape the deluge, the Viue was not 

 to be found, and Noah addressed himself then to the Angel 

 Gabriel, in order to know what was become of it. He was told 

 the Devil had carried it off. On Noah demanding it of him, 

 he obstinately refused to give it up, under the pretence that it 

 belonged to him. "Very well, then," said the Angel Gabriel, 

 " share it between you." " I am very well contented," replied 

 Noah, " to give him the quarter." " That is not enough," said 

 the Angel. " Very well then, the half ," answered Noah. "That 

 is not enough yet," continued Gabriel; "he must have two- 

 thirds of it, the remainder is sufficient for you." By this the 

 Angel of God would imply that as the juice of the Viue had 

 the property of inebriating and destroying man's reason, it 

 ought to be partaken of moderately by him. 



The Egyptians cultivated their Vines as bushes — that is, 

 they pruned them like shrubs without prop or trelliswork. 

 They grew them in this way in large enclosures near their 

 dwellings. 



Among the Romans the Vine was very frequently planted 

 at the foot of Mulberries, Acacias, Poplars, and other trees 

 with a bulky head. The shoots were allowed to grow to 

 a great height", and were scarcely subjected to pruning. In 

 this manner abundant and excellent raisins were gathered, 

 and it is still the system pursued in Italy. We have ourselves, 

 in the outskirts of Bologna, seen immense fields of Vines 

 planted near Mulberries and Maples, and arranged in long 

 lines as in the cultivation of Maize and Hemp. We have 

 grown the Vine thus in several parts of the Khedive's domi- 

 nions, and have gathered abundant bunches of Grapes with- 

 out pruning or culture. 



The Egyptians must have brought the Vine from Asia, for 

 they had carried the transferring of plants from one country 

 to another to a great extent. The hieroglyphics still show us 

 the Egyptians disembarking from the Red Sea with foreign 

 plants, which they derived in their victorious incursions upon 

 the Asiatic nations. It must have been from Asia, its original 

 home, and where it is most often found in a wild state, that 

 the Vine was introduced into Egypt. From Egypt it must 

 have been carried to Greece and Italy, and thence into the 

 centre and north of Europe. All clue as to the date of the 

 introduction of the Vine into Europe is wanting. We only 

 know that in the fifth century of the Christian era, the bar- 

 barians of the north were attracted into Gaul by the juice of 

 the Grape, and then two hundred years had passed since the 

 cultivation of it had been practised upon the hills of the 

 Rhone. — M. G. Delchevaleie. — (Belgique Horticole.) 



USES OF A SMALL GREENHOUSE. 

 In answer to " Brighton," Mr. Fish writes as follows : — 

 " You may do great things in your small greenhouse, but there 

 is the risk that if you attempt too much you will fail in more 

 than you can at present reasonably expect. The first place 

 I occupied was visited by the celebrated nurseryman Joseph 

 Knight, and as I had some little places crammed, resolving 

 to get fruit and flowers out of them, he tapped me on the 

 shoulder and said, ' Mr. F , I am bad enough, but you are 



