Vine
(Vitis vinifera). The Grape Vine is found growing wild in the temperate regions of Western Asia, Southern Europe, and parts of Northern Africa, and is generally believed to be a native of that part of Asia Minor to the south of the Caucasus and of the Caspian Sea. According to De Candolle, in "L'Origine des Plantes Cultivees," it grows there "with the luxuriant wildness of a tropical creeper, clinging to tall trees, and producing abundant fruit without pruning or cultivation Its dissemination by birds and other agencies must have begun very early--perhaps before the existence of man in Europe, or even in Asia. . . . Seeds of the Grape Vine have been found in the lake dwellings of Castione, near Parma, which date from the age of bronze . . . and Vine leaves have been found in the tufa round Montpellier-- probably deposited before the historical epoch." Records of the cultivation of the Grape, and of the making of wine, in Egypt, go back 5,000 to 6,000 years.
The introduction of the Vine into this country is generally credited to the Romans, in the reign of the Emperor Augustus, about A. D. 10. Vineyards existed in England at a very early period of our history. They are mentioned in the "Domesday Book," and also by Bede, who wrote in A.D. 731. The Isle of Ely was called the Isle of Vines by the Normans, the Bishop of Ely, shortly after the Conquest, receiving as tithes wine made from the Vines grown in his diocese. In the reign of Henry III. we read of vineyards. Malmesbury mentions the county of Gloucester as being, in his time, very rich in vineyards; and there still remain traces of them at Tortworth. The first Earl of Salisbury planted a vineyard at Hatfield, which is noted as being in existence when Charles I. was taken there as a prisoner. There are records of vineyards existing in various parts of Surrey, and a notable one, which is still partly in existence, once flourished at Bury St. Edmunds. Vineyards seem to have been common to all monastic establishments; but the suppression of the latter, and, subsequently, the fact of cheap foreign wines becoming more easily accessible, led, no doubt, to neglect in Grape cultivation.
Of noteworthy Grape Vines, Speechly, who wrote on the vine at the end of the last century, mentions one thatw as growing in the open air at Northallerton, in Yorkshire, in 1789, that had covered a space of 132 square yards, and was supposed to have been planted 150 years. During the last century, the cultivation of Grapes seems to have become pretty general; several notable examples being still in existence--as that of the Black Hamburgh Vine at Valentines, Ilford, in Essex, which Gilpin, in his "Forest Scenery," says was planted in 1758. This is stated to be the oldest Vine in England, and to be the parent of the still more celebrated Vine at Hampton Court, which was planted in 1769, and now covers a space of about 220 square yards. Of more modern Vines, the most remarkable examples are those at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, which annually produce about 2,000lb. weight of Grapes; that at Mr. Kay's, Finchley, covering a house 89ft. long by 18ft. wide; and that at Manresa Lodge, Roehampton, filling a house 224ft. long, the stems extending to 1,365ft.
The Grape Vines of Europe are all varieties of Vitis vinifera; whilst those of America belong to V. Labrusca.
