in botany: A genus of the clas pentandra, order monogynia; and in the natural system arranged under the 46th order, pectoraceae. The petals cohere at the top, and are withered; the fruit is a berry with five seeds. There are 11 species; the most important of which is the vinifera or common vine, which has naked, lobed, finuated leaves. There are a great many varieties; but a recital of their names would be tiresome without being useful. All the sorts 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 of the last year's growth as are strong and well ripened; these should be cut from the old vine, just below the place where they were produced, taking a knot, or piece of the two-year 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 fifteen inches long. When the piece or knot of old wood is cut at both ends, near the young young shoot, the cuttings 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 defend their vessels, and dispose them for taking root. If the ground be strong and inclined to wet, 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 five 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 too many shoots, which must consequently be weaker than if only one of them grew; whereas, 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 to often prevents their buds from shooting.

Having placed the cutting into the ground, 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. Nothing more is 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 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 farther care until they begin to shoot; when you should rub off all weak dangling shoots, leaving no more than the two produced from the two eyes of the last year's wood, which should be fastened to the wall. From this time till the vines 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; about the middle or latter end of July, it will be proper to nip off the tops of these two shoots which will strengthen the lower eyes. During the summer 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, forwarding 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 dugged as before.

The uses of the fruit of the vine for making wine, &c. are well known. The vine was introduced by the Romans into Britain, 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.

Doomsday exhibits to us a particular proof that wine was made in England during the period preceding the conquest. And after the conquest the bishop of Ely appears to have received at least three or four tons of wine annually, as tithes, 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 fine vine in the days of Caesar, had numbers so early as the time of Strabo. The fourth 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. France was 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, timing it with smoke, colouring it (as was suspected) with herbs and noxious dyes, 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 Comté. These were peculiarly fitted for cold countries. They ripened even in the frosts of the advancing winter. And they were of the same colour. 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 fitted 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 deposited in 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 fictitious 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, sarsaparilla, and rose. Two of them, therefore, were those agreeable liquors which we still denominate cider and perry. The latter would be called cydum by the Romans, and is therefore called perry or pear-water by us. And the former assumed among the Romans the appellation of sidera, which was colloquially pronounced by them sidera, as the same pronunciation of it among the present Italians shows; and retains therefore the denomination of cider among ourselves.

VITREOUS Humour of the Eye. See Anatomy, n° 142.