^oS ThefouitcemhBookeof 



Howbelt, in choofing of a fit foile for this vine, it is much adoe to pleafe and content it : in a fat G 

 ground it foone rotteth j in a light and Jean,it will not grow at all : very choife it is therefore 3d a in-, 

 tie^dnd nice, in fecking a middle temper betweene , and therefore it taketh a great liking to the 

 Sabine hills^and there it loves to be . The grapes that it beareth, be not To beaiKifuU to the eye, 

 but pleafant to the tooth :ifiyou make not the more haft to take them prefenily when theybe 

 ripe, they will fall off, although they bee not rotten. This vineputieth foorth large and hard 

 leaves, which defend the grapes well againft haileftones. 



Now there are befides, certain notable grapes of a middle colour between black and purple, 

 and they alter their hue oftentimes ; whereupon fome have named them Variance : and vet the 

 blacker they be, the more they are fee by i they beare grapes but each other yeare, that is to fay, 

 this yeare in great plentie, the next yeare very little jhowbeit, theirwineis the better when they H 

 yeeld fewer grapes. Alfo there be two kinds of vines called PreticT, differing one from the other 

 inthebignelfeof the (tones within the grape: full of wood and braunches they are bothuheir 

 grapes are very good to be preferved in earthen pots : and leafed they belike to Smallach.They 

 of Dy trhachium doe highly praife the Roiall vine Bafilica,which the Spaniards call Cocolobis. 

 Thegrapes grow but thin upon this plant: theycanwell abide all South winds, and hore wea- 

 ther: they trouble and hurt the head, if a man eat much of them .In Spaine they make two kinds 

 of them ; the one havinga long ftone or grain within,the other a round ;thefebe rhelaft grapes 

 that are gathered in time of vintage. The Iweeter grape that the Cocolobisbeareth, thc1)eiter 

 isit thought: howbeit^h at which was hard and cart at thefirft, will rurne to bee plealant with kec^ 

 ping ^andthat which was fweet, will become harAi with age: and then they relemblc in taft, the I 

 Albane wine: and men fay, there is an excellent drinke made thereof, to helps difeafes and infir- 

 mities of the bladder. As touching the vine Albuelis,itbearethmoit grapes in the tops of trees, 

 but Vifula is more fruitful! beneath toward the root: and therefore if they be fet both under one 

 and the fame tiee, aman (hallfee the diverfitie of their nature,and how they will furniQi and en- 

 rich that tree, from the head to the foot. There is a kind of blacke grape,named Inerticula, as a 

 man would fay, dull and harmelelTe ^ but they that fo called it, might more juftly have named it 

 The fober grape: The wine madetherof is very commendable when it is oldjhowbeit nothinc^ 

 * Ametliyftos, huttfull * for never maketh it any man drnnke : and this propertie hath it alone by it fclfe* As for 

 coimcu. Qjj^gj. jj^g-j, fruitfuines commend them 5 and namely above all, that which is called 



Helvenaca: wherof be two kinds jtli^ greater,which fome name Thelong rand the fmaller,cal- K 

 led Area : not fo plentiful! it is as the former,but furely the wine thereofgoeth downe the throat 

 more merrily. It ditfereth from the other in the perfect and exquifite|^nd^ers of the leafe, as it 

 were drawne by compalTc; but both the one and the other is very flender,^and therefore of ne* 

 celTuiethey muf! be underpropped with foikes, for oiherwife they will not beare their own bur- 

 den, fo fruitfull they be. They delight greatly to grow neare the fea fide, where they may have 

 the vapours of the fea to breath upon them : and indeed their very grapes have a fent and CmcW 

 of a brackiCh dew. There is not a vine can worfe brooke Italic. Hergrapes are fmall, they hang 

 thin,and rot even upon her : and the wine made thereof,wiIl not laft above one Summer : and yes 

 on the other fide there is not a vine tliat liketh better in an hungric and leane ground. Grmnm 

 (who otherwife compiled his worke out of Cormlim Ccifm in manner word for word) is of this ^ 

 opinion, That this vine could love Italic well enough, and that of the owne nature it mifliketh 

 not the countrey ; but thecaufe why it thriveth no better there , is the want of skill and know- 

 ledge to order and husband it as it ought to bee 5 for that men ftriveto overcharge it witb 

 r wood, and load it with too many braunches : and were it not that the goodnes of a fat and rich 

 foile maintained it ftill, beginning to faint and decay, the fruitfuInelTe thereof were enough to 

 kill it. This vine(by report) is never blaftcd : a Angular gift venly of Nature,if it be true,That any 

 plant or tree fhould bee fo exempt from thejurifdi(aion (asit were) of the heavens^ that they 

 had no power to doe it harme. The vine Spionia,which fome call Spinea, feareth no extremi- 

 tie of heat : her grapes profper well in Autumne and much abundance of raine : This is the only 

 grape that is nourifhed with foggic miffs, and therefore it liketh no place well but the territory M 

 of Ravenna. The vine Venicula(whichis countedone ofthe beft for kindly blooming and fhed- 

 ding the flowcrs,and for grapes moft meet to be preferved and kept in pots) the Campaines ra- 

 ther name Sirculus others Stacula : and they of Tarracina call it Numifiana : and as they fay, 

 the grape therof hath no fingularitie nor vertue in it fclfc^ but only according to the foile where 



it 



