try, which cannot be properly performed in the warm months. About eight thousand tons of raisins, or dried grapes, are annually imported into England, at a duty of about £160,000. A considerable quantity of undried grapes are also imported, principally from Portugal, in jars, among saw-dust. The value of those so imported is about £10,000. The currants of commerce, which are so extensively used in England, and of which about six thousand tons are annually imported into this country, are small dried grapes, principally grown in the Ionian islands. Laborde, in his account of Spain, gives the following description of the mode of drying raisins:"In the kingdom of Valencia they make a kind of ley with the ashes of rosemary and vine branches, to which they add a quart of slaked lime. This ley is heated, and a vessel, full of holes, containing the grapes, is put into it. When the bunches are in the state desired, they are generally carried to naked rocks, where they are spread on beds of the field artemisia, and are turned every two or three days till they are dry. In the kingdom of Granada, particularly towards Malaga, they are simply dried in the sun, without any other preparation. The former have a more pleasing rind, but a less mellow substance; the skins of the latter are not so sugary, but their substance has a much greater relish; therefore, the raisins of Malaga are preferred by foreigners, and are sold at a higher price: to this their quality may likewise contribute; they are naturally larger, and more delicate, than those of the kingdom of Valencia." A vineyard, associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and plenty, is, in general, a disappointing object. The hop plantations of our own country are far more picturesque. In France, the vines are trained upon poles, seldom more than three or four feet in height; and "the pole-clipt vineyard" of poetry is not the most inviting of real objects. In Spain, poles for supporting vines are not used; but cuttings are planted, which are not permitted to grow very high, but gradually form thick and stout stocks. In Switzerland, and in the German provinces, the vineyards are as formal as those of France. But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry," surrounding the stone cottage with its girdle, flinging its pliant and luxuriant branches over the rustic viranda, or twining its long garland from tree to tree*" was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and her olives that tempted the rude people of the North pour down upon her fertile fields: to "The prostrate South to the destroyer yields It In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are either trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display all their luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the custom of the ancient vinegrowers; and their descendants have preserved it in all its picturesque originality. The vine-dressers of Persia train their vines to run up a wall, and curl over on the top. But the most luxurious cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner and his family to gather beneath its shade, "The fruitful bough by a well" is of the highest antiquity. The Alpenstock, by C. J. Latrobe, 1829. The vine lasts to a considerable age; it spreads also to a large extent, or, when supported, rises to a great height. Although it bears at three or four years plentifully, it is said that vineyards improve in quality till they are fifty years old*. Pliny mentions a vine which had attained the age of six hundred years. In France and Italy there are entire vineyards still in existence, and in full bearing, which were in the same condition at least three centuries ago, and have so continued ever since. The slender stems of ordinary vines, when they have attained a considerable age, are remarkably tough and compact; and the timber of the very old ones in foreign countries, which is occasionally of size enough for being sawn into planks, and being made into furniture and utensils, is almost indestructible. Strabo mentions an old vine which two men could not embrace. A single vine plant, which was trained against a row of houses at Northallerton, covered, in 1785, one hundred and thirty-seven square yards. It was then about a hundred years old, and it increased in size afterwards; but it is now dead. In 1785, the principal stem of this vine was about fifteen inches in diameter. Of the variety of the vine called the black Hamburgh there are several remarkable trees in England, covering a great extent of surface, and bearing (under glass) a profusion of the finest fruit. Of these, among the most celebrated are the Hampton Court vine, and the vine at Valentines, in Essex. The Hampton Court vine is in a grape-house on the north side of the palace it covers a surface of twenty-two feet by seventy-two, or 1694 square feet. It is a most productive bearer, having seldom fewer than two thousand clusters upon it every season. In the year 1816, there were at least 2240, weighing each, on the * Miller. average, a pound; so that the whole crop weighed a ton, and, merely as an article of commerce, was worth upwards of £400. The Valentines vine extends over a greater surface, and has a larger trunk, than that at Hampton Court; but it is not, on the average of seasons, so productive. It has, however, been known to produce two thousand bunches of a pound each. CHAPTER III. PULPY FRUITS, BORNE BY SHRUBS AND TREES, CONTINUED. MULBERRY; CURRANT; GOOSEBERRY; RASPBERRY; STRAWBERRY; BARBERRY; ELDER; BRAMBLE; CLOUD-BERRY; BILBERRY; GUALTHERIA SHALLON. a. Currant. b. Gooseberry. C. Raspberry. d. Strawberry. e. Mulberry. THE MULBERRY-Morus nigra. THE mulberry-tree appears to have formed an object of cultivation at a very early period in the western parts of Asia, and in Europe. The attention there bestowed upon it must have been solely on account of its fruit; for the knowledge of the mode of rearing silk-worms was confined to the people of central and southern Asia till the sixth century. We read in the Psalms that the Almighty wrath destroyed the |