BERBERIDS. 409 
layas it reaches 10,000 feet above the level of the Indian Ocean. 
In England the Vine was probably introduced by the Romans, for 
there are indications that vineyards were planted in the third 
century by the Emperor Proteus, which still existed in the eighth 
century, according to the Venerable Bede. William of Malmes- 
bury, writing in the twelfth century, commends the vineyards of 
Gloucestershire ; and we have read somewhere that the remains of 
vineyards are not unusual in the south and west of England. But 
these must also be considered as indications of a changing climate, 
for although recent attempts have been made, on the system of 
cultivation introduced by Hoare, to establish vineyards of con- 
siderable magnitude in Wiltshire and elsewhere, we are not aware 
that they have prospered. This arises from the shortness of our 
Summers. England has a mean temperature as high as that of 
many countries where the Vine flourishes in perfection, but there 
is a want of heat and sun in the months of September and October, 
at which time the Vine is ripening its fruit. 
The fruit of the Vine is a grateful article of diet in various con- 
ditions. As fresh grapes its smell and flavour is delicious. Muscatel 
8tapes, dried, which is effected by cutting half through the foot- 
stalk while suspended from the tree, form one of our finest dried 
fruits ; and currants, or corinths, are the dried fruit of a Vine 
Which grows in Zante and Cephalonia. 
Now, what are the characteristics and organisation of the 
_ Vitacese ? 
The leaves are cordiform : that is, they are slightly heart-shaped, 
laving two rounded lobes at the base; it throws out tendrils, or 
branches, borne at the point of insertion of the leaves, by the aid 
of which it creeps along the object on which it is placed. The 
2 flowers of the Vine are disposed in a multifloral panicle, very small 
4nd greenish, with a sweet odour, which in’ spring perfumes the 
ee fie! in the south of France, where this shrub is cultivated over an 
_ ™mmense surface. The panicle of flowers, with the cordate leaf, 
_‘*e well displayed in Fig. 408. 
a te calyx is small and very short, with entire or toothed margin, 
> wilis composed of the corolla, with four or five petals, scarcely 
- Perceptible, inserted on the summit of the disc, turning inwards 
~ “Me edge in estivation in a somewhat valvate manner, the apex 
