Of THE VINE* 



97 



If the foregoing directions have been strictly 

 attended to, the bunches of grapes will, in general, 



Covered with villas and orange-groves. I saw not one house 

 levelled to the ground; but perceived that all had been damaged 

 and were abandoned ; and that the inhabitants were universally 

 retired to barracks in these beautiful groves of orange, mul- 

 berry, and fig-trees, of which there are many in the environs of 

 Reggio. One that I visited, and which is reckoned the richest 

 in all this part of Magna Grecia, is about a mile and a half 

 from the town of Reggio ; and, what is remarkable, belongs to 

 a gentleman whose name is Agamemnon* The beauty of the 

 Argrume (the general name of all kind of orange, lemon, 

 cedrate, and bergamot trees) is not to be described ; the soil 

 being sandy, the exposition warm, ami command of water, sl 

 clear rivulet being introduced at pleasure in little channels to 

 the foot of each tree, is the reason of the wonderful luxuriancy 

 of these trees." To which I shall only add, that every body 

 knows the vast use of canals in the cultivation of fruit-trees, in 

 the land of Egypt, at this day. " Don Agamemnon assured 

 me it was a bad year when he did not gather from his garden 

 (which is of no great extent) 1 70,000 lemons, 200,000 oranges^ 

 (which I found as excellent as those of Malta) and bergamots 

 enough to produce 200 quarts of the essence from their rinds. 

 There is another singularity in these gardens, as I was assured, 

 every fig-tree affords two' crops of fruit annually ; the first in 

 June, the second in August. 



" Silk, and essence of bergamot, oranges, lemons, are the 

 great articles of trade at Reggio. I am assured that no less 

 than 100,000 quart* of this essence is annually exported. This 

 fruit, after the rind is taken off, is given to the cows and oxen . 

 aid the inhabitants of this town assure me, that the beef, a^ 

 that season, has a strong and disagreeable flavour of bergamot." 



I shall beg leave to make two observations on the foregoing 

 accounts : 



H 



