16 



The Magdalen kind is, according to some, a native of Italy ; it hag 

 a lower, shorter stock than most other kinds ; the leaves are small., 

 and also the bunches, which are very compact ; the berry is not large, 

 and is roundish ; the skin leathery, of a black purple, with a high 

 bloom ; the p'olp greenish, slightly sugared, and almost insipid. It ri- 

 pens by the end of July, or at farthest by the beginning of August, 

 which is its only advantage. It figures on the tables of such as pride 

 themselves on early fruit, and has no other merit than that of flatter- 

 ing the pride of a fantastical taste. It requires a loose, red soil, expo- 

 sed to the south. It has erroneously been asserted to bear three crops 

 in a favourable season, by the aid of judicious pruning ; but the thing 

 is impossible. The kind to wliich Virgil alludes, (Geor. II.) and which 

 Pliny, CHist. Nat.) calls trifera, thrice-bearing, iiisana, mad vine, is 

 successfully cultivated by M. Borghers, of Lumigny, ( Seine and 

 Marne ; ) and since 1812, he has distributed a great number of scions 

 and cuttings. This kind is very vigorous, and yields, from the fourth 

 year of its setting out, an abundance of excellent grapes, provided it 

 be not pruned too close, and lopped too short. Owing to its great vi- 

 gour and tendency to luxuriance, it is necessary to allow, after the 

 second pruning, a considerable length to the wood or stock. When 

 this vine has attained its fourth year, the first crop, which is the lar- 

 gest, ripens in the 48th parallel of latitude, in a southern exposure, 

 from the 15th to the 20th of August ; the second crop ripens from the 

 2.5th September to the 5th October : and the third, which is merely a 

 demonstration, from the 25lh October to the 10th November, if not 

 caught by the early frosts. The two latter crops are the result of 

 pruning ; the end of a shoot is cut off, two or three joints beyond the 

 last bunch, just as the blossom has fallen, and the berry is moulded : 

 that is, from the 15th to the 20lh of June. New branches or second- 

 shoots immediately spring from the joints that are left, and unfold the 

 clusters of the second crop ; as soon as the blossom of this latter is 

 shed, the previous operation of pruning is repeated on these second 

 shoots ; and soon after, but less rapidly than upon the first operation, 

 the third crop appears, which it were better never to prune for in high 

 latitudes, as it is very scanty and seldom succeeds to reach maturity. 



This plant requires a sofl soil essentially light, and rich in vegetable 

 mould. During drought it should be at times watered. A southern 

 exposure and espalier training are rigorously indispensable to obtain 

 the three crops in the northern departments of France. 



It seems that it is a native of the isle of Chios, whence it was car- 

 ried to Calabria and the island of Ischia, w^here it is called Ura di tre 

 volte Vanno. The berry is very sweet, of a highly agreeable flavour, 



