VITIS

VITIS, the VINE; a genus of the angiospermia order, belonging to the didynamia class of plants. There are seven species, and a great many varieties, the enumeration of all which would be too tedious to insert here. Mr Millar enumerates the following, which are easily propagated and ripen well in this country. 1. The July grape, called by the French Morillon noir batif, is a small, round, black berry, growing loose on the bunches. The juice is sugary; but has little flavour, and has no merit but that of ripening early. It ripens the beginning of August. 2. The black sweet-water, is a small roundish berry, growing close in the bunches, which are short. The skin is thin, the juice very sweet, and the birds and flies are very apt to devour them if they are not guarded. It ripens soon after the other. 3. The white sweet-water, is a large round berry when in perfection; but these are very different in size on the same bunch; some of them will be of a large size, and others extremely small, for which reason it is not much esteemed. The juice is sugary, but not vinous. This ripens about the same time with the former. 4. The Chaffelas blanc, or royal Muscadine, as it is called by some, is an excellent grape; the bunches are generally large, and at the upper part divided with two smaller side bunches or shoulders. The berries are round; and, when perfectly ripe, turn of an amber colour. The juice is rich and vinous: it ripens in September; but, if carefully preserved, they will hang very late, and become excellent. 5. The Chaffelas musque, or le cour grape, as it is here called, by some called the Frankindal, is an excellent grape, and generally ripens well in England, if it has a good aspected wall. The berries are very like those of the former in shape, size, and colour; but are fleshy, and have a little musky flavour. It ripens at the same time with the former. 6. The black cluster, or Munier grape, as it is called by the French, from the hoary down of the leaves in summer, is a good fruit, and ripens well here. The bunches are short, the berries are oval, and are very close to each other; so that many of those which grow on the inside continue green when the outer are perfectly ripe. It ripens in September, and is by some called the Burgundy grape. 7. The auverna, or true Burgundy grape, sometimes called black morillon, is an indifferent fruit for the table; but is esteemed one of the best sorts for making wine. The berries of this are oval, and hang looser on the bunches than those of the cluster grape; so ripen equally, which gives it the preference. 8. The Corinth, or as it is vulgarly called the currant grape, is a small roundish berry, generally without stones, of a deep black colour, and much clustered on the bunches, which are short; it has a sugary juice, and ripens in September, but will not last long. 9. The red Chaffelas, is very like the white in size and shape; but is of a dark red colour: it is a very good grape; but ripens later than the white, and is pretty rare in England. 10. The white muscadine, is something like the chaffelas; but the berries are smaller, and hang looser on the bunches, which are longer, but not so thick as those of the chaffelas. The juice is sweet, but not so rich as the chaffelas. 11. The black frontinac, or muscat noir, is a round berry of good size; they grow loose on the bunches, yet do not ripen equally. The bunches are short; the berries, when fully ripe, are very black; and are covered with a meal or flue, like the black plums. The juice of this is very rich and vinous. It ripens in the end of September, or the beginning of October. 12. The red frontinac, or muscat rouge, is an excellent grape when fully ripe; but unless the season proves very warm, they rarely ripen without artificial heat in England. The bunches of this sort are longer than those of the former: the berries are large and round: when they are fully ripe, they are of a brick colour; but before, they are gray, with a few dark stripes: and this is frequently taken for a different kind, and is commonly called grisey frontinac; but I am convinced it is the same grape. The juice of this this has the most vinous flavour of all the sorts, and is greatly esteemed in France. 13. The white frontinac, has larger bunches than either of the former: the berries are round, and are so closely clustered on the bunches, that unless they are carefully thinned early in the season, when the berries are very small, the sun and air will be excluded from many of them, so that they will not ripen, and the moisture will be detained in the autumn, which will cause them to rot. The juice of this is excellent; and, if the fruit is perfectly ripe, is inferior to none. The French call it muscat blanc. 14. The Alexandrian frontinac, or muscat d'Alexandrie, is by some called muscat of Jerusalem. The berries of this are oval, and hang loose on the bunches; these are long, and are not shouldered. There are two sorts, one with white and the other with red berries; their juice is very rich and vinous, but they seldom ripen in England without artificial heat. 15. The red and black Hamburg, by some called the Warner grape, from the person who brought it into England, These have middle-sized berries inclining to an oval shape. The bunches are large; and their juice, when ripe, is sugary, with a vinous flavour. This ripens in October. 16. The St Peter's grape has a large oval berry, of a deep black colour when ripe. The bunches are very large, and make a fine appearance at the table; but the juice is not rich, and it ripens late in the year. The leaves of this sort are much more divided than those of the other sorts, approaching to those of the parsley-leaved grape, so it may be distinguished before the fruit is ripe. All the sorts of grapes are propagated either from layers or cuttings, the former of which is greatly practised in England, but the latter is much preferable. In choosing the cuttings, you should always take such shoots as are strong and well ripened of the last year's growth; these should be cut from the old vine, just below the place where they were produced, taking a knot, or piece of the two-years wood to each, which should be pruned smooth; then you should cut off the upper part of the shoots, so as to leave the cutting about sixteen inches long. When the piece or knot of old wood is cut at both ends, near the young shoot, the cutting will resemble a little mallet; from whence Columella gives the title of malleolus to the vine-cuttings. In making the cuttings after this manner, there can be but one taken from each shoot; whereas most persons cut them into lengths of about a foot, and plant them all: which is very wrong, for various reasons too tedious to mention. When the cuttings are thus prepared, if they are not then planted, they should be placed with their lower part in the ground in a dry soil, laying some litter upon their upper parts to prevent them from drying: in this situation they may remain till the beginning of April, (which is the best time for planting them); when you should take them out, and wash them from the filth they have contracted; and if you find them very dry, you should let them stand with their lower parts in the water six or eight hours, which will distend their vessels, and dispose them for taking root. Then the ground being before prepared where the plants are designed to remain (whether against walls or for standards, (for they should not be removed again), the cuttings should be planted. But in preparing the ground, you should consider the nature of the soil; which if strong, and inclinable to wet, is by no means proper for grapes: therefore, where it so happens, you should open a trench where the cuttings are to be planted, which should be filled with lime rubbish, the better to drain off the moisture: then raise the borders with fresh light earth about two feet thick, so that it may be at least a foot above the level of the ground: then you should open the holes at about six feet distance from each other, putting one good strong cutting into each hole, which should be laid a little sloping, that their tops may incline to the wall; but it must be put in so deep, as that the uppermost eye may be level with the surface of the ground; for when any part of the cutting is left above ground, most of the buds attempt to shoot, so that the strength of the cuttings is divided to nourish so many shoots, which must consequently be weaker than if only one of them grew; whereas, on the contrary, by burying the whole cutting in the ground, the sap is all employed on one single shoot, which consequently will be much stronger; besides, the sun and air are apt to dry that part of the cutting which remains above ground, and so often prevents their buds from shooting. Then having placed the cutting into the ground, you should fill up the hole gently, pressing down the earth with your foot close about it, and raise a little hill just upon the top of the cutting, to cover the upper eye quite over, which will prevent it from drying. This being done, there is nothing more necessary but to keep the ground clear from weeds until the cuttings begin to shoot; at which time you should look over them carefully, to rub off any small shoots, if such are produced, fastening the first main shoot to the wall, which should be constantly trained up, as it is extended in length, to prevent its breaking or hanging down. You must continue to look over these once in about three weeks during the summer season, constantly rubbing off all lateral shoots which are produced; and be sure to keep the ground constantly clear from weeds, which, if suffered to grow, will exhaust the goodness of the soil and starve the cuttings. The Michaelmas following, if your cuttings have produced strong shoots, you should prune them down to two eyes. In the spring, after the cold weather is past, you must gently dig up the borders to loose the earth; but you must be very careful, in doing this, not to injure the roots of your vines: you should also raise the earth up to the stems of the plants, so as to cover the old wood, but not so deep as to cover either of the eyes of the last year's wood. After this they will require no further care until they begin to shoot; when you should look over them carefully, to rub off all weak dangling shoots, leaving no more than the two shoots, which are produced from the two eyes of the last year's wood, which should be fastened to the wall. And so from this, until the vine have done shooting, you should look them over once in three weeks or a month, to rub off all lateral shoots as they are produced, and to fasten the main shoots to the wall as they are extended in length; which must not be shortened before the middle or latter end of July, when it will be proper to nip off their tops, which will strengthen the lower eyes; and during the summer mer season you must constantly keep the ground clear from weeds: nor should you permit any sort of plants to grow near the vines, which would not only rob them of nourishment, but shade the lower parts of the shoots, and thereby prevent their ripening; which will not only cause their wood to be spongy and luxuriant, but render it less fruitful. As soon as the leaves begin to drop in autumn, you should prune these young vines again, leaving three buds to each of the shoots, provided they are strong: otherwise it is better to shorten them down to two eyes if they are good; for it is a very wrong practice to leave much wood upon young vines, or to leave their shoots too long, which greatly weakens the roots: then you should fasten them to the wall, spreading them out horizontal each way, that there may be room to train the new shoots the following summer, and in the spring the borders must be digged as before. The uses of the fruit of the vine for making wine, &c. are well known. However, the number of vines cultivated in this country is by no means sufficient to supply the consumpt. The plant was introduced by the Romans, and appears formerly to have been very common. From the name of vineyard yet adhering to the ruinous sites of our castles and monasteries, there seem to have been few in the country but what had a vineyard belonging to them. The county of Gloucester is particularly commended by Malmesbury in the twelfth century, as excelling all the rest of the kingdom in the number and goodness of its vineyards. In the earlier periods of our history, the isle of Ely was expressly denominated the Isle of Vines by the Normans. Vineyards are frequently noticed in the descriptive accounts of doomsday. And those of England are even mentioned by Bede, as early as the commencement of the eighth century. That the Romans were the original introducers of the plant, we need no other testimony than the British appellations of it. Being brought by them into Gaul, it was denominated the vigne by the natives. And, being carried by them into Britain, it was similarly called by the inhabitants the guin-wyden, the guin-bren, the guin-ien, or fon-ras, as it is still denominated in the Welsh, Cornish, Armorican, and Irish dialects. These appellations, like the Gaelic, do not directly signify the vine, and only speak of it characteristically as the wine-tree. And, as they show the Romans to have been the first planters of it in both kingdoms; so this little peculiarity pretty plainly intimates the natives of both to have been acquainted with the liquor, some time before they cultivated the tree. Such would naturally be the case of both. Such appears to have been actually the case with the Gauls. And the Caledonian Britons, who were strangers to the plant, were conversant with its produce before the middle of the third century. The former was not brought into Britain in the first, but was introduced before the close of the third. And, confined as it would for ages be within the pale of the Roman government, it was transplanted into Ireland before the beginning of the eighth. But the grape, or, as with an agreeable simplicity it was called by the Britons, the corne of the tree, the wine-grane, and the apple of the vine, was not, as it now is, merely raised for the uses of the table. All the arts of the vigneron would naturally be introduced with the plant. They were carried with it into Gaul. And, that they came together into Britain, the good knowledge which the Caledonians appear to have had of the liquor is a presumptive evidence, and the British appellation of the wine-tree for the vine seems a strong argument. But doomsday exhibits to us a particular proof made in England, during the period preceding the conquest. And, after it, the bishop of Ely appears to have received at least three or four tuns of wine annually, as tythe, from the produce of the vineyards in his diocese; and to have made frequent reservations in his leases of a certain quantity of wine for rent. A plot of land in London, which now forms East-Smithfield and some adjoining streets, was withheld from the religious house within Aldgate by four successive constables of the Tower, in the reigns of Rufus, Henry, and Stephen, and made by them into a vineyard to their great emolument and profit. In the old accounts of rectorial and vicarial revenues, and in the old registers of ecclesiastical suits concerning them, the tithe of wine is an article that frequently occurs in Kent, Surrey, and other counties. And the wines of Gloucestershire, within a century after the conquest, were little inferior to the French in sweetness. The beautiful region of Gaul, which had not a single vine in the days of Cæsar, had numbers so early as the time of Strabo. The south of it was particularly stocked with them; and they had even extended themselves into the interior parts of the country: But the grapes of the latter did not ripen kindly. And France was even famous for its vineyards in the reign of Vespasian, and even exported its wines into Italy. The whole province of Narbonne was then covered with vines: and the wine-merchants of the country were remarkable for all the knavish dexterity of our modern brewers, tinging it with smoke, colouring it (as was suspected) with herbs and noxious dies, and even adulterating the taste and appearance with aloes. And, as our first vines would be transplanted from Gaul, so were in all probability those of the Allobroges in Franche Comte. These were peculiarly fitted for cold countries. They ripened even in the frosts of the advancing winter. And they were of the same colour, and seem to have been of the same species, as the black Muscadines of the present day, which have lately been tried in the island, I think, and found to be fittest for the climate. These were pretty certainly brought into Britain a little after vines had been carried over all the kingdoms of Gaul, and about the middle of the third century; when the numerous plantations had gradually spread over the face of the latter, and must naturally have continued their progress into the former. The Romans, even nearly to the days of Lucullus, were very seldom able to regale themselves with wine. Very little was then raised in the compass of Italy. And the foreign wines were so dear, that they were rarely produced at an entertainment; and, when they were, each guest was indulged only with a single draught. But in the seventh century of Rome, as their conquests augmented the degree of their wealth, and enlarged the sphere of their luxury, wines became the object of particular attention. Many vaults were constructed, and good stocks of liquor reposed in them. them. And this naturally gave encouragement to the wines of the country. The Falernian rose immediately into great repute; and a variety of others, that of Florence among the rest, succeeded it about the close of the century. And the more westerly parts of the European continent were, at once, subjected to the arms and enriched with the vines of Italy. But the scarcity of the native, and dearness of the foreign wines in that country, several ages before the conquest of Lancashire, had called out the spirit of invention, and occasioned the making of factitious wines. These were still continued by the Romans, and naturally taught to the Britons. And they were made of almost all the products of the orchard and garden, the pear, the apple, mulberry, servis, and rose. Two of them, therefore, were those agreeable liquors which we still denominate cider and perry. The latter would be called pyrum by the Romans, and is therefore called perry or pear-water by us. And the former assumed among the Romans the appellation of ficera, which was colloquially pronounced by them ficera, as the same pronunciation of it among the present Italians shows; and retains therefore the denomination of cider among ourselves.