Chapter III: Vineyard, Vintage, Etc

One of the principal branches of husbandry[1487] in Greece was the culture of the vine, probably introduced from Phœnicia.[1488] Long before the historical age, however, it had spread itself through the whole country, together with several parts of Asia Minor, as may be inferred from the language of Homer,[1489] who frequently enumerates vineyards among the possessions of his heroes. Like most things the origin of which was unknown, the vine furnished the poets and common people with the subjects of numerous fables, some of which were reckoned of sufficient importance to be treasured up and transmitted to posterity. Thus, among the Ozolian Locrians, it was said[1490] to have sprung from a small piece of wood, brought forth in lieu of whelps by a bitch. Others supposed a spot near Olympia[1491] to have given birth to the vine, in proof of which the inhabitants affirmed a miracle was wrought annually among them during the Dionysiac festival. They took three empty brazen vessels, and having closely covered and sealed them in the presence of witnesses, again opened them after some interval of time, not stated, when they were found full of wine. According to other authorities, the environs of Plinthinè, in Egypt, had the honour of being the cradle of Dionysos, on which account the ancient Egyptians were by some accused of inebriety, though in the age of Herodotus[1492] there would appear to have been no vineyards in the whole valley of the Nile. In reality,[1493] the vine appears to be a native of all temperate climates, both in the old world and the new, and will even flourish[1494] and produce fine grapes in various situations within the tropics, where clusters in different stages of ripeness may be observed upon its branches at all seasons of the year.

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Footnote 1487:

The importance of this branch of cultivation in some countries may be
perceived from the fact, that in France it is said to afford
employment to 2,200,000 families, comprising a population of
6,000,000, or nearly one-fifth of the population of the entire
kingdom. TIMES, Aug. 3, 1838. The quantity of land devoted to the
culture of the vine was estimated in 1823, at 4,270,000 acres, the
produce of which amounted to 920,721,088 gallons, 22,516,220_l._
15_s._ sterling. Redding, Hist. of Modern Wines, chap. iv. p. 56. In
the Greek Budget of 1836, the tax on cattle produced 2,100,000
drachmas, on bees 35,000, olive-grounds 64,776, and on vineyards and
currant-grounds 58,269.—Parish, Diplomatic History of the Monarchy of
Greece, p. 175.

Footnote 1488:

Or according to Athenæus, from the shores of the Red Sea. Deipnosoph.
xv. 17.

Footnote 1489:

Iliad. β. 561. γ. 184. ι. 152, 294. Cf. Pind. Isth. viii. 108.

Footnote 1490:

Paus. x. 38. 1.

Footnote 1491:

Athen. i. 61.

Footnote 1492:

ii. 77.

Footnote 1493:

Cf. Redding History of Modern Wines, chap. i. p. 2. An interesting and
able work.

Footnote 1494:

Nienhoff in Churchill’s Collection, ii. 264. Barbot. iii. 13. Ulloa,
Memoires Philosophiques, t. ii. p. 15. Voyages, t. i. p. 487, 491.

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The opinions of Grecian writers respecting the soil best suited to the cultivation of the vine, having been founded on experience, generally agree with those which prevail in modern times.[1495] They preferred for their vineyards the gentle acclivities of hills,[1496] where the soil was good, though light and porous, and abounding in springs at no great depth from the surface.[1497] A considerable degree of moisture was always supposed to be indispensable, on which account, in arid situations, large hollow sea-shells, and fragments of sandstone[1498] were buried in the soil, these being regarded as so many reservoirs of humidity.

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Footnote 1495:

Virg. Georg. ii. 276.

Footnote 1496:

“Quòd colles Bacchus amaret.” Manil. Astronom. ii. p. 31. 6. Scalig.

Footnote 1497:

Geop. v. 1.

Footnote 1498:

Geop. v. 9. 8. Virg. Georg. ii. 348.

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By some the vine was even thought to delight in the rich alluvial soil of plains, such as is found in Egypt,[1499] where, in later times, the banks of the Nile, from Elephantinè to the sea, seem to have presented one vast succession of vineyards.[1500] But superior vines were produced on a few spots only, as at Koptos, and in the neighbourhood of Lake Mareotis, where showers of sand, pouring in from the desert or the sea-shore, diminished the fatness of the ground. With respect to Koptos, we possess, however, no precise information,[1501] but are expressly told, that the Mareotic vineyards covered a series of sandy swells, stretching eastward from the lake towards Rosetta.[1502] On the southern confines of Egypt, in the rocky and picturesque island of Elephantinè, the vine was said[1503] never to shed its leaves; but as none grow there at present, the traveller has no opportunity of deciding this question. In Greece the vineyards of the plains were generally appropriated to the production of the green grape, the purple being supposed to prefer the sides of hills, or even of mountains, provided it were not exposed to the furious winds upon their summits. Several sorts of white grape, also, as the Psillian, Corcyrean, and the Chlorian, delighted in elevated vineyards,[1504] though it was often judged necessary to reverse these rules, and compel the hill-nurslings to descend to the plains, while those of the plains were in their turn exposed to the climate of the mountains.

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Footnote 1499:

Καλλίστη δὲ γῆ καὶ ἑ ὑπὸ τῶν ῥεόντων ποταμῶν χωσθεῖσα, ὅθεν καὶ τὴν
Αἴγυπτον ἐπαινοῦμεν.—Florent. ap. Geop. v. 1. 4.

Footnote 1500:

Jemaleddin. Maured Allatafet, p. 7. All these vines it will be
remembered were cut down by order of the Caliph Beamrillah, even in
the province of the Fayoum. Some vestiges, however, of vineyards were
here discovered by Pococke. “I observed,” says he, “about this lake
(Mœris) several roots in the ground, that seemed to me to be the
remains of vines, for which the country about the lake was formerly
famous. Where there is little moisture in the air, and it rains so
seldom, wood may remain sound a great while, though it is not known
how long these vineyards have been destroyed.” Vol. i. p. 65.

Footnote 1501:

Though with regard to the nature of the wine itself we are told, that
it was so light as to be given to persons in fevers,—ὁ δὲ κατὰ τὴν
Θηβαΐδα, καὶ μάλιστα ὁ κατὰ τὴν Κόπτον πόλιν, οὕτως ἐστὶ λεπτὸς, καὶ
εὐανάδοτος, καὶ ταχέως πεπτικὸς, ὡς τοῖς πυρεταίνουσι διδόμενος μὴ
βλάπτειν. Athen. i. 60.

Footnote 1502:

Athen. i. 60. Horat. Od. i. 37. 14. Strab. xvii. 1. t. iii. p. 425.

Footnote 1503:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 3. 5. Varro, i. 7.

Footnote 1504:

Geop. v. 1. 15. Cf. Geop. iii. 2. “The shifting of ground is a means
to better the tree and fruit, but with this caution, that all things
do prosper best when they are advanced to the better.” Bacon, “Sylva
Sylvarum,” 439.

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Much judgment was thought to be required in selecting the site of a vineyard, though almost everything depended on the climate and general configuration of the district in which it was situated. Thus in warm countries, as in the Pentapolis of Cyrene, the vineyards sloped towards the north; in Laconia, they occupied the eastern face of Mount Taygetos, while in Attica and the islands, the hills often appear to have been encircled with vines. Upon the whole, however, those were most esteemed which looked towards the rising sun and enjoyed, without obstruction, the first rays of the morning.[1505] And this also is the case in the Côte d’Or, where the best wines, as the Chambertin, the Vin de Beaune, and that of the Clos Vougeot, are grown on eastern declivities. In some parts of Greece, the vine was strongly affected by the prevalence of certain winds, as those of the east and the west in Thessaly, which in the forty cold days of winter were attended by frost that killed its upper extremities, and sometimes the whole trunk. At Chalcis, in Eubœa likewise, the Olympias, a western wind, parched and shrivelled, or, as the Greeks express it, burnt up the leaves, sometimes completely destroying the shrub itself.[1506] In such situations it was accordingly found necessary to protect it by a covering[1507] during the prevalence of cold winds. At Methana, in Argolis, when the south-east in spring blew up the Saronic gulf,[1508] the inhabitants, to defend them from it, spread over their vines the invisible teguments of a spell; which was effected in the following manner: taking a milk-white cock, and cutting it in halves, two men seized each a part, and then, standing back to back, started off in opposite directions, made the tour of the vineyard, and, returning whence they had set out, buried the cock’s remains in the earth. After this the Libs might blow as it listed, since it possessed no power to injure any man’s property within the consecrated circle.[1509] The prevalence of the north wind during autumn was considered auspicious, as they supposed it to hasten the ripening of the fruit.

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Footnote 1505:

Geop. v. 4.1.

Footnote 1506:

Theoph. Caus. Plant. v. 12. 5. Cf. Hist. Plant. iv. 14. 11. And yet
the neighbourhood of the sea was considered propitious to the vine.
Geop. v. 5.

Footnote 1507:

Theoph. Caus. Plant. v. 12. 5.

Footnote 1508:

On the prevalence of these winds in winter and spring, together with
the causes of the phenomenon, see Aristot. Problem. xxvi. 16.

Footnote 1509:

Paus. ii. 34. 2. Chandler, Travels, ii. 248.

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When the husbandman had resolved on the formation of a new vineyard, he first, of course, encircled the spot with a hedge[1510] which was made both thick and strong for the purpose of repelling the flocks and herds, which, as well as goats, foxes, and soldiers, loved to prey upon the vine.[1511] His next care was to root up the hazel bush and the oleaster, the roots of the former being supposed to be inimical to the Dionysiac tree, while the oily bark of the latter rendered it peculiarly susceptible of taking fire, by which means vineyards would often appear to have been reduced to ashes. So at least says Virgil.[1512]

Root up wild olives from thy laboured lands,
For sparkling fire from hinds’ unwary hands
Is often scattered o’er their unctuous rinds,
And often spread abroad by raging winds;
For first the smouldering flame the trunk receives,
Ascending thence it crackles in the leaves;
At length victorious to the top aspires,
Involving all the wood in smoky fires.
But most when driven by winds the flaming storm
Of the long files destroys the beauteous form;
In ashes then the unhappy vineyard lies,
Nor will the blasted plants from ruin rise,
Nor will the withered stock be green again,
But the wild olive shoots, and shades th’ ungrateful plain.

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Footnote 1510:

Virg. Georg. ii. 371, sqq.

Footnote 1511:

Aristoph. Eq. 1073, seq. Küst.

Footnote 1512:

Georg. ii. 299, sqq. Dryden’s Translation.

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The next operation[1513] was to trench the ground and throw it into lofty ridges, which, by the operation of the summer sun, and the rain and winds and frosts of winter, were rendered mellow and genial. Occasionally a species of manure, composed[1514] of pounded acorns, lentils, and other vegetable substances, was dug in for the purpose of giving to the soil the warmth and fertility required by the vine.

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Footnote 1513:

Geop. iii. 4. Cf. Virg. Georg. ii. 259, seq. et Serv. ad loc.

Footnote 1514:

Geop. v. 24.

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The ground having remained in this state during a whole year, its surface was levelled, and a series of shallow furrows traced for the slips by line, rather close, on rich alluvial plains, but diverging more and more[1515] in proportion to the elevation of the site. Generally the vine was propagated by slips of moderate length, planted sometimes upright or à l’aiguille,[1516] as the phrase is in Languedoc, sometimes obliquely,[1517] which was generally supposed to be the better fashion. Along with the slip a handfull of grape-stones was usually cast into the furrow,[1518] those of the green grape with the purple vine, and those of the purple with the green, in order to cause it the sooner to take root. With some the practice was always to set two slips together, so that if one missed the other might take, and when both grew, the weaker was cut off or removed. Several stones,[1519] about the size of the fist, were placed round the slip above whatever manure was used, the belief being, that they would aid in preventing the root from being scorched by the sun in the heats of summer.[1520] Some touched the lower point of the slip with cedar oil which prevented it from decaying, and likewise by its odour repelled vermin.

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Footnote 1515:

Virg. Georg. ii. 274, seq.

Footnote 1516:

Skippon in Churchill, Collection of Voyages, vi. 730.

Footnote 1517:

Πότερα δὲ ὅλον τὸ κλῆμα ὀρθὸν τιθεὶς πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν βλέπον ἡγῇ
μάλλον ἂν ῥιζοῦσθαι αὐτὸ, ἢ καὶ πλάγιόν τι ὑπὸ τῇ ὑποβεβλημένη γῇ
θείης ἂν, ὥστε κεῖσθαι ὥσπερ γάμμα ὕπτιον; οὕτω νὴ Δία· πλείονες γὰρ
ἂν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ κατὰ γῆς εἶεν· ἐκ δὲ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἄνω ὁρῶ
βλαστάνοντα τὰ φυτὰ. Xenoph. Œconom. xix. 9, seq.

Footnote 1518:

Geop. v. 9. This practice is noticed by Lord Bacon who advises
gardeners to extend the experiment by laying “good store” of other
kernels about the roots of trees of the same kind. Sylva Sylvarum, i.
35.

Footnote 1519:

Virg. Georg. ii. 348.

Footnote 1520:

A similar remark is made by Lord Bacon: “It is an assured experience,”
he says, “that an heap of flint or stone laid about the bottom of a
wild tree, as an oak, elm, ash, &c., upon the first planting, doth
make it prosper double as much as without it. The cause is for that it
retaineth the moisture which falleth at any time upon the tree and
suffereth it not to be exhaled by the sun.” Sylva Sylvarum, 422.

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To produce grapes without stones the lower end of the slip was split, and the pith carefully extracted with an ear-pick.[1521] It was then bound round with a papyrus leaf, thrust into a sea-onion and thus planted. Vines producing medicinal grapes were created by withdrawing the pith from the lower part of the slip, but without splitting, and introducing certain drugs into the hollow,[1522] closing up the extremity with papyrus and thus setting it in the earth. The wine, the grape, the leaves, and even the ashes of such a vine were thought to be a remedy against the bite of serpents and dogs, though no security against hydrophobia. Another mode of producing stoneless grapes was to cut short all the branches of a vine already growing, extract the pith from the ends of them, and fill up the cavity once a-week with the juice of sylphion,[1523] binding them carefully to props that the liquor might not escape. A method was also in use of producing green and purple grapes on the same cluster.[1524] This was to take two slips as nearly as possible of the same size, the one of the white, the other of the black grape, and, having split them down the middle, carefully to fit the halves to their opposites, so that the buds, when divided, should exactly meet. They were then bound tight together with papyrus thread, and placed in the earth in a sea-onion,[1525] whose glutinous juice aided the growing together of the severed parts. Sometimes instead of slips, offshoots removed from the trunk of a large vine, with roots attached to them, were used. On other occasions the vine was grafted, like any other fruit-tree, on a variety of stocks,[1526] each modifying the quality and flavour of the grape. Thus a vine grafted on a myrtle-stock,[1527] produced fruit partaking of the character of the myrtle-berry. Grafted on a cherry-tree, its grapes underwent a different change, and ripened, like cherries, in the spring. As the clay encircling the junctures of these grafts grew dry, and somewhat cracked in hot summers, it was customary for gardeners to moisten them every evening with a sponge dipped in water.[1528]

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Footnote 1521:

Geop. iv. 7. Mention of the stoneless grapes of Persia occurs in many
travellers, and, by Mr. Fowler, one of the most recent, are enumerated
under the name of _kismis_, among the choicest fruits of that country.
Three Years in Persia, vol. i. p. 323. It may here be remarked, that
certain sorts of vines, among others the Capneion, produced sometimes
white clusters, sometimes purple. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. ii. 3. 2.
Cf. de Caus. Plant. v. 3. 1. κ. τ. λ.

Footnote 1522:

Geop. iv. 8.

Footnote 1523:

Geop. iv. 7.

Footnote 1524:

Geop. iv. 14.

Footnote 1525:

It has been remarked also by ancient naturalists that a fig-tree
planted in a sea-onion, grows quicker and is more free from vermin.
Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 5. 5.

Footnote 1526:

Colum. v. 11.

—Adultâ vitium propagine
Altas maritat populos,
Inutilesque falce ramos amputans
Feliciores inserit.
Horat. Epod. ii. 9, seq.

Footnote 1527:

Geop. iv. 4, seq.

Footnote 1528:

Geop. iv. 12.

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The husbandmen of antiquity were often somewhat fanciful in their practices. In order, when forming a nursery,[1529] to coax the young plants to grow, the beds to which they were transferred, were formed of a stratum of earth brought from the vineyard whence they also were taken. Another nicety was to take care, that they occupied precisely the same position with respect to the quarters of the heavens[1530] as when growing on the parent stock.[1531]

“Besides to plant it as it was they mark
The heaven’s four quarters on the tender bark,
And to the north or south restore the side
Which at their birth did heat or cold abide,
So strong is custom; such effects can use
In tender souls of pliant plants produce.”

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Footnote 1529:

Virg. Georg. ii. 265, seq.

Footnote 1530:

Lord Bacon gives this experiment a place in his philosophy, observing,
that “in all trees when they be removed (especially fruit-trees) care
ought to be taken that the sides of the trees be coasted (north and
south) and as they stood before.” Sylva Sylvarum, 471.

Footnote 1531:

Virg. Georg. ii. 270, seq.

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When desirous of extending the plantation in an old vineyard, instead of the methods above described, they had recourse to another, which was to bend down[1532] the vine branch, and bury it up to the point in the earth, where it would take root, and send forth a new vine, and in this way a long series of leafy arcades[1533] may sometimes have been formed. At the foot of their vines some cultivators were in the habit of burying three goats’ horns[1534] with their points downwards, and the other end appearing above the soil. These they regarded as so many receptacles for receiving and gradually conveying water to the roots, and, consequently, an active cause of the vines’ fertility.

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Footnote 1532:

An analogous practice is observed in the pepper gardens of
Sumatra:—“When the vines originally planted to any of the chinkareens
(or props) are observed to fail or miss; instead of replacing them
with new plants, they frequently conduct one of the shoots, or
suckers, from a neighbouring vine, to the spot, through a trench made
in the ground, and there suffer it to rise up anew, often at the
distance of twelve or fourteen feet from the parent stock.” Marsden,
History of Sumatra, p. 111.

Footnote 1533:

Virg. Georg. ii. 26. Serv. ad loc.

Footnote 1534:

Geop. iv. 2. The nymphs are said to have been the nurses of Bacchos,
because water supplied moisture to the vine. The explanation of
Athenæus is forced and cold. ii. 2.

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Respecting the seasons of planting,[1535] opinions were divided, some preferring the close of autumn, immediately after the fall of the leaf, when the sap had forsaken the branches, and descended to the roots; others chose, for the time of this operation, the early spring, just before the sap mounted; while a third class delayed it until the buds began to swell, and the tokens of spring were evident. To these varieties of practice Virgil makes allusion,—

When winter frosts constrain the field with cold,
The fainty root can take no steady hold;
But when the golden spring reveals the year,
And the white bird returns whom serpents fear,
That season deem the best to plant thy vines;
Next that, is when autumnal warmth declines,
Ere heat is quite decayed, or cold begun,
Or Capricorn admits the winter sun.

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Footnote 1535:

Geop. v. 7, seq. Virg. Georg. ii. 323, sqq.

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But the above were not the only rules observed; for, besides the general march of the seasons, they took note of the phases of the moon,[1536] whose influence over vegetation all antiquity believed to be very powerful. Some planted during the four days immediately succeeding the birth of the new moon, while others extended their labours through the first two quarters. The act of pruning[1537] was performed when that planet was in its wane.

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Footnote 1536:

Geop. v. 10.

Footnote 1537:

Geop. iii. 1.

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There were in Greece[1538] three remarkable varieties of the vine, created by difference in the mode of cultivation.[1539] The first consisted of plants always kept short, and supported on props, as in France; the second of tree-climbers, thence called Anadendrades; the third sort enjoyed neither of these advantages,[1540] but being grown chiefly in steep and stony places, spread their branches over the earth, as is still the fashion in Syra[1541] and other islands of the Archipelago.

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Footnote 1538:

Cf. Theoph. Caus. Plant. iv. 3. 6.

Footnote 1539:

The low vines of Asia Minor are now pruned in a very particular
manner. “As we approached Vourla the little valleys were all green
with corn, or filled with naked vine-stocks in orderly arrangement,
about a foot and a half high. The people were working, many in a row,
turning the earth, or encircling the trunks with tar, to secure the
buds from grubs and worms. The shoots which bear the fruit are cut
down again in winter.” Chandler, i. 98.

Footnote 1540:

On the cultivation of the Corinth grape, see Chandler, ii. 339.

Footnote 1541:

Abbé Della Rocca, Traité Complet des Abeilles, i. 203. Lord Bacon, who
had heard of this manner of cultivating the vine, observes, that in
this state it was supposed to produce grapes of superior magnitude,
and advises to extend the practice to hops, ivy, woodbine, &c. Sylva
Sylvarum, 623.

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Vine-props[1542] appear to have commonly consisted of short reeds, which, accordingly, were extensively cultivated both in Hellas and its colonies of Northern Africa, where the musical cicada, whose excessive multiplication betokened a sickly year, bored through the rind, and laid its eggs in the hollow within.[1543] From an inconvenience attending the use of this kind of support came the rustic proverb, “The prop has defrauded the vine;”[1544] for these reeds sometimes took root, outgrew their clients, and monopolized the moisture of the soil.

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Footnote 1542:

Geop. v. 22. 27. Reeds delight in sunny spots, and are nourished by
the rain. They were cultivated for props, and, if thoroughly smoked,
the insects called ἶπες were killed, which would otherwise breed in
them, to the great injury of the vine, v. 53. Plin. xviii. 78. Cf.
Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 1140. 983. Varro, i. 8. In the island of
Pandataria the vineyard was filled with traps, to protect the grapes
from the mice. Id. ib.

Footnote 1543:

Aristoph. Hist. Anim. v. 24. 3.

Footnote 1544:

Sch. Aristoph. Vesp. 1282. Cf. Thom. Magist. v. χάραξ. p. 911, seq.
Blancard. cum not. Stieber. et Oudendorp. Ammon. v. χάραξ. p. 145,
with the note of Valckenaer. Liban. Epist. 218. p. 104 seq. Wolf.

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In rich and level lands,[1545] particularly where the Aminian vine[1546] was cultivated, the props often rose to the height of five or six feet; but in hill-vineyards, where the soil was lighter and less nutritive, they were not suffered to exceed that of three feet. Where reeds were not procurable, ash-props[1547] were substituted, but they were always carefully barked, to prevent cantharides, and other insects hurtful to the vine, from making nests in them. Their price would appear to have been considerable, since we find a husbandman speaking of having laid out a hundred drachma in vine-props.[1548] To prevent their speedily decaying they were smeared a-top with pitch, and carefully, after the vintage, collected and laid up within doors.[1549]

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Footnote 1545:

Geop. v. 27.

Footnote 1546:

Cf. Geop. iv. 1. Dioscor. v. 6. Virg. Georg. ii. 97. Servius, on the
authority of Aristotle, relates that the Aminian vines were
transplanted from Thessaly into Italy. Cf. Pier. ad loc.

Footnote 1547:

Sch. Aristoph. Vesp. 1116. Acharn. 1177. In the Æolian islands the
vines are supported on a frame-work of poles and trees, over which
they spread themselves with extraordinary luxuriance. Spallanzani, iv.
99.

Footnote 1548:

Sch. Aristoph. Pac. 1262.

Footnote 1549:

Virg. Georg. 408, seq.

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A vineyard, consisting wholly of Anadendrades,[1550] most common in Attica, presented, in spring and summer, a very picturesque appearance, especially when situated on the sharp declivity of a hill.[1551] The trees designed for the support of the vines,[1552] planted in straight lines, and rising behind each other, terrace above terrace, at intervals of three or four and twenty feet, were beautiful in form and varied in feature, consisting generally of the black poplar, the ash, the maple, the elm,[1553] and probably, also, the platane, which is still employed for this purpose in Crete.[1554] Though kept low in some situations, where the soil was scanty, they were, in others, allowed to run to thirty or forty, and sometimes, as in Bithynia, even to sixty feet in height.

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Footnote 1550:

Which were pruned in January (Geop. iii. 1), and esteemed the most
useful, iv. 1. The solidest and hardest vines were thought to bear the
least fruit. Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 4. 1. Cf. Chandler, i. 98.

Footnote 1551:

Dem. in Nicostrat. § 5.

Footnote 1552:

“Vitem viduas ducit ad arbores.”
Hor. Carm. iv. 5. 30.

Footnote 1553:

Virg. Georg. ii. 361, seq. An amictâ vitibus ulmo. Hor. Epist. i. 16.
3.

Footnote 1554:

Pashley, Travels, ii. 22. The oak is now used for the same purpose in
Asia Minor. Chandler, i. 114.

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The face of the tree along which the vine climbed was cut down sheer like a wall, against which the purple or golden clusters hung thickly suspended, while the young branches crept along the boughs, or over bridges of reeds,[1555] uniting tree with tree, and, when touched with the rich tints of autumn, delighting the eye by an extraordinary variety of foliage. As the lower boughs of these noble trees were carefully lopped away, a series of lofty arches was created, beneath which the breezes could freely play, abundant currents of pure air being regarded as no less essential to the perfect maturing of the grape[1556] than constant sunshine. Sometimes the vine, in its ascent, was suffered to wind round the trunk of its supporter, which, however, by the most judicious husbandmen, was considered prejudicial, since the profusion of ligatures which it threw out in its passage upwards was thought to exhaust too much of its strength, to prevent which wooden wedges[1557] were here and there inserted between the vine stem and the tree. In trailing the branches, moreover, along the boughs, care was taken to keep them as much as possible on the upper side, that they might enjoy a greater amount of sunshine, and be the more exposed to be agitated by the winds.

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Footnote 1555:

Gœttling ad Hesiod. Scut. Heracl. 298.

Footnote 1556:

Another means of augmenting the fertility of the vine is noticed by
Lord Bacon, whose diligent study of antiquity was at least as
remarkable as his superior intellect. “It is strange, which is
observed by some of the ancients, that dust helpeth the fruitfulness
of trees and of vines by name; insomuch as they cast dust upon them of
purpose. It should seem that powdring when a shower cometh maketh a
kind of soiling to the tree, being earth and water finely laid on. And
they note that countries where the fields and waies are dusty bear the
best vines.” Sylva Sylvarum, 666.

Footnote 1557:

Geop. iv. 1. 16.

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These Anadendrades,[1558] which were supposed to produce the best and most lasting wines, probably, as at present, ripened their produce much later than the other sorts of vines on account of the trees by which they were shaded. In modern Crete,[1559] where, however, they are never pruned, their grapes seldom ripen before November, and sometimes they furnish the bazaar of Khania with fresh supplies till Christmas. The same is the case also in Egypt.

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Footnote 1558:

These vines were likewise called ἁμαμάξυες. Aristoph. Vesp. 325, et
Schol. The rustics engaged in pruning them, feeling themselves secure
in their lofty station, used to pour their rough raillery and
invectives on the passers-by. Horace, Satir. i. 7. 29, seq.

-----

Occasionally, too, more especially in Cypros, the Anadendrades grew to an enormous size. At Populonium, in Etruria, there was a statue of Jupiter carved from a single vine; the pillars of the temple of Hera, at Metapontum, consisted of so many vines; and the whole staircase leading to the roof of the fane of Artemis, at Ephesos, was constructed with the timber of a single vine from Cypros. To render these things credible, we are informed, that, at Arambys, in Africa,[1560] there was a vine twelve feet in circumference, and modern travellers have found them of equal dimensions in other parts of the world.[1561] In France, for example, the celebrated Anne, Duc de Montmorenci, had a table made with a single slab of vinewood, which, two hundred years afterwards, Brotier[1562] saw preserved at the town of Ecouen.

-----

Footnote 1559:

On the vines of this island cf. Meurs. Cret. c. 9. p. 103.

Footnote 1560:

Bochart. Geog. Sac. Pars Alt. l. i. c. 37. p. 712. Cf. Plin. Hist.
Nat. v. i.

Footnote 1561:

Tozzeli, Viaggi. t. iv. p. 208.

Footnote 1562:

Not. ad Plin. xiv. i. 1.

-----

To return, however: the wide spaces between the trees were not in this class of vineyards allowed to remain entirely idle, having been sometimes sown[1563] with corn, or planted with beans, and gourds, and cucumbers, and lentils.[1564] The cabbage[1565] was carefully excluded,[1566] as an enemy to Dionysos. In other cases these intervals were given up to the cultivation of fruit-trees, such as the pomegranate, the apple, the quince, and the olive. The fig-tree was regarded as pernicious, though often planted in rows on the outside of the vineyard.

-----

Footnote 1563:

Geop. iv. 1. v. 7, seq.

Footnote 1564:

Barley and other grain are still in modern times sown between the
vines in Asia Minor. Chandler, i. 114. The same practice has been
partially introduced into the Æolian islands. Spallanzani, iv. 100.

Footnote 1565:

Suid. v. κράμβη, t. i. p. 1518. b.—παρὰ ἀμπέλω οὐ φυέται Etym. Mag.
534. 47.

Footnote 1566:

So was the laurel. Theoph. Caus. Plant. ii. 18. 4.

-----

Respecting those vines which were cultivated without the aid of props,[1567] or trees, we possess little information, except that there were such. But, as they are still found in the country, it is probable, that the mode of dressing them now prevailing nearly resembles that of antiquity. They are generally, in Syria, planted along the steep sides of mountains, where they spread and rest upon the stones, and have their fruit early ripened by the heat reflected from the earth. Frequently, also, they are planted on more level ground, in which case, as soon as the grapes acquire any size, the husbandman passes through the vineyard with an armful of forked wooden props which he skilfully introduces beneath the branches and fixes firmly so as to keep the clusters from touching the mould. The reason for adopting this method is the furious winds which at certain seasons of the year prevail in many of the Grecian islands, preventing the growth of woods and prostrating the fig and every other fruit-tree to the earth. The spaces between the lines are turned up annually by a peculiar sort of plough[1568] drawn by oxen, in front of which a man advances, lifting up the vines and holding them aside while they pass. This destroys the weeds, and, at the same time, all the upper roots of the vine, which compels it to descend deeper into the earth, where it finds a cooler and more abundant nourishment. In this respect the practice of the Syrotes closely resembles that of their ancestors. Some husbandmen were careful, likewise, while weeding,[1569] to remove the larger stones, though they are often supposed, by preserving moisture, to do more good than harm.

-----

Footnote 1567:

This creeping vine, cultivated _sine ridicis_, was common in Spain.
Varro, i. 8.

Footnote 1568:

Della Rocca, Traité Complet sur les Abeilles, t. i. p. 203, sqq. Cf.
Thiersch, Etat Actuel de la Grèce, t. i. p. 288. 296. Damm. Nov. Lex.
Græc. Etym. 1122.

Footnote 1569:

Geop. v. 19.

-----

It is a peculiar feature in the character of the ancients that they loved to attribute to the inferior animals the first hints of various useful practices. Thus they maintained it was the ass that, by browsing on the extremities of the vine, which only made it bear the more luxuriantly, taught them the art of pruning as well perhaps as that of feeding on the tendrils and tender branches,[1570] which among them were esteemed a delicacy. To manifest their gratitude for this piece of instruction they erected at Nauplia,[1571] a marble statue in honour of this ill-used quadruped, who has seldom, I fear, from that day to this, been so well treated. The rules observed in pruning[1572] resembling those still in use, it is unnecessary to repeat them, though it may be worth mentioning, that the husbandman, who coveted an abundant vintage, was careful to lop his vines[1573] with his brows shaded by an ivy crown. They esteemed it a sign of a fruitful year when the fig-tree and the white vine put forth luxuriantly in spring,[1574] after which they had only to petition the gods against too much rain, or too much drought,[1575] and those terrible hailstorms which sometimes devastate whole districts. Against this calamity, however, they had a preservative, which was to bind an amulet in the shape of a thong of seal-hide or eagle’s wing, about one of the stocks,[1576] after which the whole vineyard was supposed to be secure from injury. The same effect was produced by striking a chalezite stone with a piece of iron on the approach of a storm, and by hanging up in the vineyard a picture of a bunch of grapes at the setting of the constellation of the Lyre.[1577] To repel the ascent of vermin along the trunk it was smeared with a thick coat of bitumen,[1578] imported from Cilicia, while to preserve the branches from wasps a little olive-oil was blown over them.[1579]

-----

Footnote 1570:

Theoph. Caus. Plant. vi. 12. 9. After the vintage the goat and the
camel, among the modern Asiatics, are sometimes let into the vineyard
to browse upon the vine. Chandler, i. 163.

Footnote 1571:

Paus. ii. 38. 3. See, however, another interpretation of the passage
in the Tale of a Tub, where the author gravely insists, that, by Ass,
we are to understand a critic. Sect. iii. p. 96.

Footnote 1572:

Cf. Plat. De Rep. t. vi. p. 53. Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 166. See an exact
representation of the pruninghook in the hand of Vertumnus. Mus.
Cortonens. pl. 36. This instrument was usually put into requisition
about the vespertinal rising of Arcturus. Hesiod. Opp. et Dies, 566,
sqq.

Footnote 1573:

Geop. v. 24.

Footnote 1574:

Theoph. Caus. Plant. i. 20. 5.

Footnote 1575:

Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 1117. Küst.

Footnote 1576:

Geop. i. 14. Cf. Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 1109. Husbandmen were accustomed
to nail the heads and feet of animals to the trunks of trees to
prevent their being withered by the operation of the evil eye. Sch.
Ran. 943.

Footnote 1577:

Geop. ii. 14.

Footnote 1578:

Theoph. De Lapid. § 49. Schneid. Cf. Sir John Hill, notes, p. 200. It
was likewise obtained from Seleucia Pieria in Syria. Strab. vii. 5. t.
ii. p. 106.

Footnote 1579:

Geop. iv. 10.

-----

While the grapes were growing, the ancients, following in the track of nature, supposed them to need shade, since the leaves at that time put forth most abundantly, to screen the young fruit from the scorching sun; but when they began to don their gold or purple hues, observing the foliage shrivel and shrink from about them, in order to admit the warm rays to penetrate and pervade the fruit they then stripped the branches and hastened the vintage,[1580] plucking moreover the clusters as they ripened, lest they should drop off and be lost. But this partial gathering of the grapes could only take place in their gardens, or where the vine was trained about the house; for in the regular vineyards the season of the vintage was regulated by law,[1581] as in Burgundy and the south of France, in order to protect the public against the pernicious frauds which would otherwise be practised. This, in Attica, usually coincided with the heliacal rising of the constellation Arcturus.[1582]

-----

Footnote 1580:

Xenoph. Œcon. xix. 9.

Footnote 1581:

Plat. De Legg. t. viii. 106. Geop. v. 45.

Footnote 1582:

Cf. Geop. i. 9. 9.

-----

When the magistrate had declared that the season of the vintage[1583] was come, the servants of Bacchos hurried forth to the vine-clad hills, converting their labours into a pretext for superabundant mirth and revelry. The troops of vintagers, composed of youths and maidens, with crowns of ivy on their heads, and accompanied by rural performers on the flute or phorminx, moved forward with shout, and dance, and song, to the sacred enclosures of Dionysos, surrounded with plaited hedgerows, and blue streamlets.[1584] Here, where

“——the showering grapes
In Bacchanal profusion reel to earth
Purple and gushing,”

they at once commenced their joyous task. With sharp pruning-hooks[1585] they separated the luxuriant clusters, gold or purple, from the vine, and piling them in plaited baskets of osier or reed, bore them on their shoulders to the wine-press. In this operation, as I have said, both men and women joined; but the press was trodden by men only,[1586] who, half intoxicated by pleasure,[1587] and the fumes of the young wine, chanted loudly their ancient national lays in praise of Bacchos.

-----

Footnote 1583:

Cf. Plut. Thes. § 22.

Footnote 1584:

Il. σ. 561, sqq.

Footnote 1585:

Scut. Heracl. 291, seq. On the modern modes of gathering the grapes,
see Redding Hist. of Modern Wines, chap. ii. 26, et seq.

Footnote 1586:

The practice is still the same in the Levant:—“The vintage was now
begun, the black grapes being spread on the ground in beds exposed to
the sun to dry for raisins; while in another part, the juice was
expressed for wine, a man with feet and legs bare, treading the fruit
in a kind of cistern, with a hole or vent near the bottom, and a
vessel beneath it to receive the liquor.” Chandler, ii. p. 2.

-----

The wine-press, which stood under cover, sometimes consisted of two upright, and many cross beams,[1588] which, descending with great weight upon the grapes squeezed forth all their juices, and these falling through a species of strainer,[1589] upon an inclined slab, were poured through a small channel formed for the purpose, into a broad open vessel communicating with the vat. Into the process of wine-making[1590] it is unnecessary to enter. It will be sufficient, perhaps, to say that, when made, it was laid up in skins or large earthen jars until required for use. The wines of modern Attica and the Morea[1591] are preserved from becoming acid by a large infusion of resin.[1592]

-----

Footnote 1587:

Anacreon, Od. 52. See a representation of the whole process in the
Mus. Cortonens, pl. 9, where the vintagers are clad in skins; and Cf.
Zoëga, Bassi Rilievi, tav. 26.

Footnote 1588:

Antich. di Ercol. t. i. tav. 35, p. 187.

Footnote 1589:

Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 527.

Footnote 1590:

For the making of the sweet wine (Βίβλινος οἶνος) which resembled,
perhaps, our Constantia or Malaga, and enjoyed extraordinary favour
among the ancients Hesiod gives particular directions. Opp. et Dies,
611, sqq. Colum. xii. 39. Plin. Hist. Nat. xiv. 8. Pallad. xi. 19.

Footnote 1591:

Sibth. in Walp. Mem. ii. 235. Chandler, ii. 251.

Footnote 1592:

A few drops of the oil which ran from olives without pressing were
supposed by the ancients to render the wine stronger and more
lasting.—Geop. vii. 12. 20. On the boiled wine, σίραιον. Cf. Sch.
Aristoph. Vesp. 878.

-----

The sports,[1593] which took place during the vintage, were loud and frolicsome, and distinguished sometimes for their excessive licence. They brought forth a number of wine skins, filled tight, to the village green, and there smearing them liberally with oil the staggering rustics sought, each in his turn, to leap and stand upon one of them with his naked foot.[1594] The missing, slipping, and falling, the awkward figure they sometimes made upon the ground, the jokes, and shouts, and laughter of the bystanders, mingled with the twanging of rustic instruments, and the roar of Bacchanalian songs, constituted the charm of the rural Dionysia, out of which, through many changes and gradations, arose, as we have seen, the Greek drama. In order without shame to give the freer licence to their tongues, they sometimes covered their faces with masks, formed with the bark of trees, which, there can be no doubt, led to those afterwards employed in the theatre. Sometimes a sort of farce[1595] was acted, representing the search of the Athenians for the bodies of Icarios and Erygone. The former, according to tradition, was the person who taught the inhabitants of Attica the use of wine, with which on a certain occasion he regaled a number of shepherds. These demi-savages, observing their strength and their reason fail, imagined themselves to have been poisoned, and falling, in revenge, upon the donor, put him to death. His dog Mœra escaped, and leading Erygone to the spot where her father had been murdered, she immediately hung herself on the discovery of the corpse. Upon this they were all transported to the skies, and changed into so many constellations, namely Boötes,[1596] the Dog, and the Virgin, by whose brilliancy we are still rejoiced nightly. Soon afterwards the maidens of Attica were seized with madness and hung themselves in great numbers, upon which the oracle being consulted, commanded the Athenians to make search for the bodies of Icarios and Erygone. Being able to discover them nowhere on earth, they suspended ropes from the branches of lofty trees, by swinging to and fro on which they appeared to be conducting their search in the air; but many of these adventurous explorers receiving severe falls, they were afterwards contented with suspending to the ropes little images after their own likeness, which they sent hither and thither in the air as their substitutes.

-----

Footnote 1593:

Virg. Georg. ii. 580, sqq. Hes. Scut. Heracl. 291, sqq. Cf. Schol.
Theocrit. i. 48.

Footnote 1594:

See Book ii. chapter 3.

Footnote 1595:

Serv. ad Virg. Georg. ii. 389.

Footnote 1596:

Æl. de Anim. vi. 25.

-----

But all the produce of the vineyards was not appropriated to the making of wine, great quantities of grapes[1597] being preserved for the table, or converted into raisins.[1598] The latter were sometimes made by being carefully gathered after the full moon, and put out to dry in the sun, about ten o’clock in the morning, when all the dew was evaporated. For this purpose, there was in every vineyard, garden, and orchard, a place called Theilopedon,[1599] which would seem to have been a smooth raised terrace, where not grapes only, but myrtle-berries, and every other kind of fruit, were exposed to the sun on fine hurdles. Here, likewise, the berries of the Palma Christi[1600] were prepared for the making of castor oil. Another method was to twist the stem of the cluster[1601] and allow the grapes to dry on the vine. They were then laid up in vessels among vine leaves, dried also in the sun, covered close with a stopper, and deposited in a cold room free from smoke.

-----

Footnote 1597:

Geop. iv. 15. Cato, 7. Colum. xii. 39. Pallad. 11. 22.

Footnote 1598:

In the warm climate of Asia Minor grapes were sometimes turned into
raisins, on the stalk, by the sun.—Chandler, i. 77.

Footnote 1599:

Eustath. ad Odyss. η. p. 276. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 51. κρεμάθρα.
fruit-baskets, 219.

Footnote 1600:

Dioscor. i. 38.

Footnote 1601:

Geop. v. 52. This we find is still the practice in the islands of the
Archipelago, for the purpose of making sweet wine. M. l’ Abbé della
Rocca, who mentions it, enumerates at the same time the most delicious
sorts of grapes now cultivated in Greece—“On peut juger si les vins y
sont exquis, et si les anciens eurent raison d’appeller Naxie l’île de
Bacchus. Les raisins y sont monstrueux, et il arrive souvent que dans
un repas, on n’en sert qu’un seul pour le fruit; mais aussi
couvre-t-il toute la profondeur d’un grand bassin: les grains en sont
gros comme nos damas noirs. Il y a dans les îles des raisins de plus
de vingt sortes: les muscats de Ténédos et de Samos l’emportent sur
tous les autres; ceux de Ténédos sont plus ambrés; ceux de Samos, plus
délicats. Les Sentorinois, pour donner une saveur plus exquise à leurs
raisins, leur tordent la queue lorsqu’ils commencent à mûrir; après
quelques jours d’un soleil ardent, les raisins deviennent à demi
flétris, ce qui fait un vin dont ceux de la Cieutat et de
Saint-Laurent n’approchent pas. Les autres sortes de raisins sont
_l’aïdhoni_, petit raisin blanc qu’on mange vers la mi-juillet; le
_samia,_ gros raisin blanc qu’on fait sécher; le siriqui, ainsi nommé
parce qu’il a le goût de la cerise; _l’ætonychi_, qui a la figure de
l’ongle d’un aigle, et qui est très savoureux; le malvoisie, le muscat
violet, le corinthe, et plusieurs autres dont les noms me sont
échappés.” Traité sur les Abeilles, t. i. p. 6, seq. Speaking of the
prodigious productiveness of vines, Columella mentions one which bore
upwards of two thousand clusters, De Re Rust. iii. 3. A vine producing
a fifth of this quantity has been thought extraordinary in modern
Egypt: “Il n’est pas croyable combien rapporte un seul pied de vigne.
Il y en a un dans la maison Consulaire de France, qui a porté 436
grosses grappes de raisin, et qui en donne ordinairement 300.”—De
Maillet, Description de l’Egypte, p. 17.* In the Grecian Archipelago,
however, the vine has been known to yield still more abundantly than
in Egypt: “On a compté pendant trois ans consécutifs, cent
trente-quatre grappes de raisin sur une souche; et sur un autre cep de
vigne planté dans un terrain très-gras, on a compté jusqu’à quatre
cent quatre-vingts grappes; et l’intendant de l’évêché de notre île
m’a plus d’une fois assuré qu’on avoit fait soixante-quinze bouteilles
de vin, avec le raisin d’un seul cep.” Della Rocca, t. i. p. 65.

-----

To preserve the grapes fresh some cut off with a sharp pruninghook the clusters separately, others the branches on which they grew, after which, dipping the stem into pitch and removing the damaged grapes with a pair of scissors, they spread them in cool and shady rooms, on layers of pulse-halm, or hay, or straw.[1602] The halm of lentils was usually preferred, because it is hard and dry, and repels mice. On other occasions, the branches were kept suspended, having sometimes been previously dipped in sweet wine. Grapes were likewise preserved in pitched coffers, immersed in dry saw-dust of the pitch tree, or the silver fir, or the black poplar, or even in millet flour. Others plunged the bunches in boiling sea-water, or if this were not at hand, into a preparation of wine, salt, and water, and then laid them up in barley straw. Others boiled the ashes of the fig-tree, or the vine, with which they sprinkled the bunches. Others preserved grapes by suspending them in granaries, where the grain beneath was occasionally moved, for the dust rising from the corn settled on the outside of the clusters, and protected them from the air. Another method was to boil rain-water to a third, and then, after cooling it in the open air, and pouring it into a pitched vessel, to fill it with clusters perfectly cleansed. The vessel was then covered, luted with gypsum, and laid by in a cold place. The grapes in this way remained quite fresh, and the water itself acquiring a vinous taste was administered to sick persons in lieu of wine. Occasionally, also, grapes as well as apples were kept in honey.

-----

Footnote 1602:

Geop. iv. 15. 4.

-----

The most extraordinary, and perhaps the most effectual contrivance,[1603] however, was to dig near the vine a pit three feet deep, the bottom of which was covered with a layer of sand. A few short stakes were then fixed upright in it, and to these a number of vine branches laden with clusters were bent down and made fast. The whole was then closely roofed over so as completely to keep out the rain, and in this way the grapes would remain fresh till spring.

-----

Footnote 1603:

Geop. iv. 11. Pallad. xii. 12.

-----

The labours of the vintage being concluded, the husbandman next turned his attention to olive gathering and the making of oil. This, in Greece, was a matter of great importance. The olives, therefore,[1604] for all the better sorts of oil, were picked by hand, and not, as in Italy, suffered to fall. When as many were gathered as could conveniently be pressed during the following night and day, they were spread loosely on fine hurdles, and not heaped up lest they should heat and lose the delicacy of their flavour. They were, likewise, cleansed carefully from leaves and every particle of wood, these substances, it was supposed, impairing the quality and durability of the oil. Towards evening a little salt was sprinkled over the olives, which were then put into a clean mill,[1605] and so arranged that they could be bruised without crushing the stones, from the juice of which the oil contracted a bad taste. Having been sufficiently bruised, they were conveyed in small vessels to the press, where they were covered with hurdles of green willows, upon which, at first, was placed a moderate weight,—for that which flows from slight pressure is the sweetest and purest oil, on which account it was drawn off in clean leaden vessels,[1606] and preserved apart. Greater weight was then added, and the mass having been well writhen, the second runnings were laid up in separate vessels. The next step was to cause the precipitation of the lees, which was effected by mingling with the crude oil a little salt and nitre. It was then stirred with a piece of olive-wood, and left to settle, when the amurca or watery part sank to the bottom. The pure oil was then skimmed off with a shell, and laid up in glass vases, this substance having been preferred on account of its cold nature. In default of these, pickle-jars, glazed with gypsum, were used, which were deposited in cool cellars facing the north.[1607]

-----

Footnote 1604:

Geop. ix. 19. 2.

Footnote 1605:

The fruit of the terebinth was ground, like the olive, in a mill, for
the making of oil. The kernels were used in feeding pigs, or for fuel.
Geop. ix. 18.

Footnote 1606:

Cf. Cato, De Re Rust. 66. This clear pure oil, sometimes rendered
odoriferous by perfumes, (Il. ψ. 186,) was chiefly employed in
lubricating the body. Thus we find the virgin in Hesiod anointing her
limbs with olive-oil to defend herself from the winter’s cold. Opp. et
Dies, 519, sqq.

Footnote 1607:

Vitruv. vi. 9.

-----

The Greeks had a variety of other oils besides that procured from the olive,[1608] as walnut-oil, oil of terebinth, oil of sesamum, oil of violets, oil of almonds, oil of Palma Christi, or castor-oil, oil of saffron, oil of Cnidian laurel, oil of datura, oil of lentisk, oil of mastic, oil of myrtle, and oil of mustard. They had, likewise,[1609] the green and wild-olive oil, and the double-refined oil of Sicyon, together with imitations of the Spanish and Italian oils.

-----

Footnote 1608:

Geop. ix. 18.

Footnote 1609:

Geop. ix. 19, seq. iii. 13. Dioscor. i. 140.

-----

As fruit of all kinds was in great request among the Greeks, they had recourse to numerous contrivances[1610] for ensuring an unfailing supply throughout the year. At many of these our gardeners may, perhaps, smile, but they were, nevertheless, most of them ingenious, and, probably, effectual, though the fruit thus preserved may have been dear when brought to market. Into the details of all their methods it will be unnecessary to enter: the following were the principal and most curious. Walnuts, chestnuts, filberts, &c., were gathered and kept in the ordinary way. They understood the art of blanching almonds, which were afterwards dried in the sun. Medlars, service-berries, winter-apples, and the like, having been gathered carefully, were simply laid up in straw, whether on the loft-floor or in baskets. This, likewise, was sometimes the case with quinces, which, together with apples and pears, were, on other occasions, deposited in dry fig-leaves. For these, in the case of pears and apples, walnut-leaves were often substituted, sometimes piled under and over them in heaps, at other times wrapped and tied about the fruit, the hues and odours of which they were supposed greatly to improve.

-----

Footnote 1610:

Geop. x. 10–70. Cf. Mazois, Pal. de Scaurus, p. 182, seq.

-----

Citrons,[1611] pomegranates,[1612] apples, quinces, and pears, were preserved in heaps of sand, grapestones, oak, poplar, deal, or cedar sawdust, sometimes sprinkled with vinegar, chopped straw, wheat, or barley, or the seeds of plants, all of which sufficed equally to exclude the external air. Another method with apples[1613] was to lay them up surrounded with sea-weed in unbaked jars, which were then deposited in an upper room free from smoke and all bad smells. When sea-weed was not procurable they put each apple into a small separate jar closely covered up and luted. These apple-jars were often lined with a coating of wax. Figs were, in like manner, preserved green[1614] by being enclosed in so many small gourds. Citrons and pomegranates were often suffered to remain throughout the winter on the tree, defended from wet and wind by being capped with little fictile vases bound tightly to the branches to keep them steady. Others enclosed these fruits, as well as apples, in a thick coating of gypsum, preventing their falling off by binding the stem to the branches with packthread. Nor was it unusual, even when gathered, to envelope apples, quinces, and citrons, in a covering of the same material, or potter’s clay, or argillaceous earth, mixed with hair, sometimes interposing between the fruit and this crust a layer of fig-leaves, after which they were dried in the sun. When at the end, perhaps, of a whole year the above crust was broken and removed the fruit came forth perfect as when plucked from the bough. It is possible, therefore, that, in a similar manner, mangoes, mangusteens, and other frail and delicate fruit of the tropics, might be brought fresh to Europe, and that, too, in such abundance as to make them accessible to most persons. To render pears and pomegranates durable, their stems were dipped in pitch, after which they were hung up. In the case of the latter the fruit itself was sometimes thus dipped; and, at other times, immersed in hot sea-water, after which it was dried in the sun. One mode of preserving figs was to plunge them in honey so as neither to touch each other, nor the vessel in which they were contained; another, to cover a pile of them with an inverted vase of glass, or other pellucid substance, closely luted to the slab on which it stood. Cherries were gathered before sunrise, and put, with summer savory above and below, into a jar, or the hollow of a reed, which was then filled with sweet vinegar, and closely covered. Mulberries were preserved in their own juice, apples and quinces in pitched coffers, wrapped in clean locks of wool, pears by being placed in salt[1615] for five days, and afterwards dried in the sun, as were also figs, which were strung by the stalks to a piece of cord or willow twig, like so many hanks of onions[1616] as they are sold in modern times. Elsewhere they were preserved, as dates in Egypt, by being pressed together in square masses, like bricks.[1617] Damascenes were kept in must or sweet wine, as were also pears, adding sometimes a little salt and jujubes, with leaves, above and below. The same course was pursued with apples and quinces, which communicated to the liquor additional durability and the most exquisite fragrance. Quinces, whose sharp effluvia prevented their being placed with other fruit, were often put into closely-covered jars, and kept floating in wine to which they imparted a delicious perfume. The same custom was observed with respect to figs, which were cut off on the bearing branch a little before they were ripe, and hung, so as not to touch each other, in a square earthen jar. Upon the same principle apples were preserved in jars hermetically sealed, which, for the sake of coolness, were plunged in cisterns or deep wells.[1618]

-----

Footnote 1611:

Palladius, iv. 10.

Footnote 1612:

We find mention in modern times of a species of pomegranate, the
kernels of which are without stones, peculiar apparently to the island
of Scio. “It is usual to bring them to table, in a plate, sprinkled
with rose-water.” Chandler, i. 58.

Footnote 1613:

Cf. Philost. Icon. t. 31. p. 809. ii. 2. p. 812.

Footnote 1614:

Ficus virides servari possunt vel in melle ordinatæ, ne se invicem
tangant, vel singulæ intra viridem cucurbitam clausæ, locis unicuique
cavatis, et item tessera, quæ secatur, inclusis, suspensa ea
cucurbita, ubi non sit ignis vel fumus. Pallad. iv. 10.

Footnote 1615:

Cato, 7. Varro. i. 59. Colum. xii. 14.

Footnote 1616:

Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 755. Sibth. in Walp. Mem. ii. 61.

Footnote 1617:

Phot. ap. Brunckh. ad Aristoph. Pac. 574.

Footnote 1618:

Pallad. iii. 25.

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It may, perhaps, be worth while to mention, in passing, that, like ourselves, the ancients possessed the art of extracting perry and cider[1619] from their pears and apples; and from pomegranates a species of wine which is said to have been of an extremely delicate flavour. The Egyptians, also, made wine from the fruit of the lotos.[1620]

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Footnote 1619:

Pallad. iii. 25. Colum. xii. 45.

Footnote 1620:

Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 3. i.

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