Plinics Naturall Hiftorie. 



A tbcr when they be planted to run up a tree, rather than to creepe upon a frame. A third fort are 

 called Gemell^,for that their grapes grow double like twins^and they be very harfh and in taft 

 untoothfoineihowbeic their vertue and ftrength is fingular. Thefmallcr fort ofthefe take harm 

 by the South wind : but all other winds nourifb them jas we may fee in the mount Vefuvius^ and 

 the litde hils of Surrentum : for in all other parts of Italic, yec fhall never find them but wedded 

 to treesjand growing upon them. As for the fift,kind of thefe Amminean Vinesjthey bee called 

 Lanatx^/o fceezed they are with a kind ofdowne or cottoujinfomuch as we need not wonder any 

 more at tlie Seres or Indians for their cotton and filken trees. The did kind of thefe Amniinean 

 grapes come fooneft to their ripeneffe and pctfedion^and mofl quickly do they rot and putrifico 

 Nextto thefe Amminean VineSj thoie of Momentum are inmoit account : and for that their 

 ^ wood is red/ome have called themRubelk. Thefe grapes yeeld no great plentie of wine, but 

 in (lead thereof their flones and kernils, and otherreiufe remaining, grow to an exceeding big 

 cake: howbeitjthis propertie they have.Thefrof^ they will endure paffing well, leffc harme they 

 take alfo by raine than droughtjUnd thrive better in cold than heat: and therefore in cold and 

 moifl grounds they excell and have no fellow. Of thefe Vines, they are more plentifull which 

 beare grapes with fmallerftones, and leaves with lefle cuts and jagsendented. As touching the 

 Mufcadell VineSj Apian^^they tooke that name of Bees,which arefo much delighted in themj 

 and defirous to fetde and feed of them.Of two forts they are : and both carie cotton and down. 

 Howbeitjthis difference isbetwcenethemjthat the grapes of the one willbeefooner ripe than 

 the other, and yet there is neither of them both but be haftie ynough. Thefe Mufcadell grapes 

 ^ like well and love cold countries: and yet none fooner rot than they^if fhowers take them. The 

 Mufcadell wines are at the firflifwcet: but widi age become hartli and hard, yea, and redwithall. 

 And to conclude,thcre is not a grape that joieth more to hang upon the vinejthan itdoth.ThiiS 

 much of the very {lower of Vines,and.the principall grapes that be familiar and proper unto our 

 countrey of Italie^as their native foilc. 



Thereflbefiraungerscomeoutof Chios or Thafos. As for the Greeke grapes of Corinthj 

 they be not in good ne fie inferior to the Aminean aforefaid. They have a very tender flone with- 

 in: and the grape it felfe is fofmall, that unleffethefoile be exceeding fat and battle,there is no 

 profite in pTantingand tending fuch Vines. The quickefets of the Vine Eugenia were fcnt unto 

 us from the Taurominitane hils in Sicilie, together with their furname pretending a noble and 

 ■p. gentle race. Howbeit,they arc never in their kind mth us, but onely in the Albanecountrey :for 

 if y oi-i tranfplant them ,they prove very baflards and changelings prefently. And in faithjfomc 

 Vines there be that take fuch an affection and love to a place, that all their goodnefle and excel- 

 lencie they will leave there behind them, and never paffe into another quarter whole and entire 

 as they be in their owne nature^VVhich evidently is to bee feene in theRhetian VinCjand that of 

 Savoy and Dauphinie^of which in the chapter before we faid,tbat it gave the taftofpitch to the 

 wine made thereof: for,thefe Vines at home in thofe countries are much renowned for the (aid 

 tall : but elfewhere if they be tranfpianted,they loofe it whole, and no fQch thing may a man ac- 

 knowledge in them.Howbeit,pIentifull fuch are,andfor default of goodnes,they make amends 

 and recompence in abundance of wine that they yeeld. As for the Vine Eugenia,it taketh well in 

 p hotegrounds.ThcRhetian liketh better in a temperate foile. The Allobrogian Vine of Savoy 

 and Daulphine delighteth mod in cold quarters : the frofl it is that ripeneth her grapes,& com- 

 monly they are of colour blacke.Of all the grapes above rehearfedjihe wines that be made, the 

 longer they be kept,the more they change coloLir3& in the end become white, yea_,though they 

 came of blacke grapes^and were of a deepe colour at firfl. Now for all other grapes whatfoever, 

 they are reckoned but bafe in comparifon of theform.er. And yet this is to bee noted and obfer- 

 yed,that the temperature of the aire may be fuch, and the foile lb good, that both the grapes will 

 endure long,and the wine bear the age very welKAs for examplc^the Vine Fecenia,and Iikewife 

 Biturica, that bloumeth with it, which beare grapes with few ftoneswithin: their flowers never 

 mifcarie,for they ever prevent and come fo timely,that they be able to withftand both wind and 

 wcather.Howbeitjthey doe better in cold placesthan in bote : in moifl alfo_>thanin drie. And to 

 fay a truth,there is not a vine more fruitfull, and yeelding fuch ftore of grapes growing fo thicke 

 together in clufters : but of all thitigs it may not away vvith variable and inconflant weather : let 

 th.e feafon be ftaied and fettled,it matters not then wheth'er it bee hot or cold,for wellit will abide 

 the one and the other alone^hold it never fo long. The lefler of this kind is held for the better, 



Howbeit 



