SACRED AND CLASSICAL PLANTING. 
48/ 
ducing the noblest and most delicious of 
beverages. Thus, in contradistinction to the 
spurious plant, our Saviour in the Gospel of 
John says, "I am the true Vine, and my Father 
is the Husbandman." And again, in the 
triumphal Song of David on the plagues 
which desolated Egypt and procured the libe- 
ration of his ancestors, he says, " He destroyed 
their vines with hail, and their Sycamore- 
trees with frost." Of all the grapes produced 
in the East, those of Canaan were considered 
to be the finest. Dandini, an Italian traveller, 
and accustomed of course to see grapes in 
great perfection, was surprised at the extra- 
ordinary size of those produced in the vine- 
yards of Lebanon, which were of.,tlie size of 
prunes, and of the most delicious taste. In 
the book of Numbers, it is stated that a bunch 
gathered in the valley of Eschol required two 
men to carry it some distance, a fact which 
has been recently confirmed, if any proof had 
been needed, by Doubdon, who met with very 
extraordinary vines near to Bethlehem. Persia 
seems entitled to the honour of giving birth 
to this plant ; thence it appears to have found 
its way into Judea, Greece, and Sicily, and 
soon after into Italy, Spain, France, and 
Britain. It is, however, contended by Theo- 
pompos, that it was the inhabitants of Chios, 
an island in the -ffigean sea, who first found 
it and cultivated it, transmitting it to the 
other Greeks. This point must for ever re- 
main in uncertainty, for as Homer refers to 
the vineyards of his heroes, the natural con- 
clusion is, that it was plentiful in Greece before 
the historical era. Throughout that country, 
sandy swells or eminences facing the morning 
sun were fixed upon as the best sites for this 
plant, and to this day south-eastern declivities 
are preferred to any other aspect. It is worthy 
of remembrance, perhaps, that the first in- 
structions in the art of pruning the vine so as 
to induce it to bear the more plentifully, was 
borrowed from an ass browsing upon it, and 
for this hint a marble statue was erected in 
honour of this quadruped in the maritime 
town of Nauplia. The vine was sacred to 
Bacchus, and throughout Greece, when the 
labours of the vintage were concluded, suencs 
of Bacchic enthusiasm and excess were yearly 
enjoyed by the youthful rustics engaged in 
that glorious harvest. The references to the 
vino in the classics are endless ; and he who 
has the leisure and inclination to search for 
them, will not long look in vain. I have seen 
the vine planted in England near to elm-trees, 
on which it found a suitable space to spread 
its branches ; and I recollect in the garden of 
.the late Mr. Loudon, at Bayswater, several 
vines were so planted which bore remarkably 
well. It is necessary that the branches of the 
elm should be thinned sufficiently to admit 
light and air, otherwise the grapes will not 
ripen. In this form it had better be intro- 
duced in a collection of sacred and classical 
plants, choosing the English elm (Ulnws cam- 
pest ris) as its support, as that tree was also 
known to the Greeks. 
The Juniper is twice mentioned in the Holy 
Scriptures. Commentators are in great doubt 
and uncertainty regarding the tree to which 
the inspired writers allude, arising from the 
somewhat absurd idea of keeping the English 
juniper continually before their eyes. It 
would indeed be hard to fancy that the 
prophet Elijah found a refreshing shade under 
a shrub a few feet in height, without any 
pretension whatever to the character of being 
umbrageous. The difficulty, however, is quite 
uncalled for ; and the fact that our divines 
are so much divided concerning this tree, 
proves how necessary it is that those who 
profess to illustrate the Scriptures should 
have an intimate acquaintance with natural 
history, or at least the aid of those who know 
something of that subject. In all probability 
the juniper of the Bible is the Juniperus 
drupacea, a native of Mount Casius in Syria, 
and identical with those seen by Bellonius on 
Mount Taurus— trees which reach the height 
of a cypress, with a broader head, and there- 
fore more likely to be chosen for shade and 
shelter. It appears the juniper was resorted 
to in the days of Job for food ; and it is so 
far corroborative of the supposition hazarded, 
to know, that at the present day the inhabit- 
ants of the mountains above referred to eat 
the fruit of the J. drupacea, which is of the 
size and shape of an olive. Be this as it may, 
there is not the slightest occasion to seek a 
substitute for the juniper of Holy Writ in 
the Genista or Spanish broom. 
The Myrtle has a clearer genealogy, and 
comes down to us as pure and odoriferous as 
it grew in the gardens of Cimon, Pericles and 
Epicurus. Those were the chief patrons of 
Flora ; they had the Myrtle planted in great 
profusion on mounds freely exposed to the 
breeze, so that when the. plants were in flower 
the winds came laden with an odour rivalling 
that of the rose. This shrub is Grecian all 
over ; whether we look at its form, the size, 
shape, and colour of its leaf, its exquisite 
fragrance, or the form, colour, and scent of 
its flowers, the classic stamp is upon it. This 
favourite denizen of Hellenic lands was dearly 
loved by the Greek ; in his eye it was instinct 
with divinity, and wherever he saw it, his 
fancy represented to him a most beautiful 
maiden of Attica, fairer than all her country- 
women. The tree was peculiarly sacred to 
Venus ; her temples were invariably skirted 
with it ; and under the favourite name of 
Myrtilla she was adorned throughout Greece. 
