172 



Notes on Six New Varieties of Vine, 



of the Persian Gulf, from which the celebrated wine of Shiraz is 

 made acccording to Sir Whitelaw Ainslie. 



The fifth kind is more abundantly cultivated than the others,, 

 and from its consequent cheapness is more accessible to the people 

 at large, it is a large globular, thin skinned, very juicy grape, green 

 at first, passing to a shade of yellow, and terminating, when fully 

 ripe, in a brown Indian red on one side of the grape. There is a 

 good deal of latent acid in it although the first flavour is sweet. It 

 is called Ahbee, which means watery. 



The sixth kind I cannot give any account of at the present mo- 

 ment, as unfortunately Mr. Vaupeli/s scientific details have not 

 yet reached me. I shall be able, I hope, to supply the omission at 

 a future period when I hear from him ; but the species must either be 

 the Sooltanee or the Sukree, both kinds being met with in Dukhun. 

 The whole of the above grapes ripen during January, February and 

 March, and they are occasionally seen for sale in all April. 



The mode of treatment is different in different vineyards ; the 

 most usual plan is to keep them low, but not quite so low as is done 

 in France ; but some gardeners grow them upon trellis work. The 

 vines produce two fruitings annually ; the first in the early part of 

 the year being sweet ; the second occurring in September, being 

 acid. For the sweet fruiting the vines are pruned the latter end of 

 September, or in October ; they are generally kept the height of a 

 man ; and in pruning them only two or three shoots are left. The 

 leaves are removed, and the bafk cleaned ; a basket full of goat's 

 dung, or if it be not procurable, a basket full of cow's dung, is put 

 to the roots ; and they are inundated from the garden well five 

 times a month, the earth being previously loosened about the roots. 

 At the period of budding the Vines are subject to the attacks of a 

 small insect which destroys the buds ; each Vine is therefore shaken 

 three times daily for eight or nine days. After fruiting the same 

 process is followed to produce the acid crop when a full acid 

 crop is desired ; but it appears to me that the practice must be 



