while in the eastern part of New York and New England it would not thrive beyond the 43° of latitude.

We find on the other side of the Atlantic, the region of the wine grape, including France and the southern countries of Europe, extending as high as latitude 50°, and in some cases 51 or 520. The southern limit of the wine grape, where the mean annual temperature is about 59°, is traced from Raleigh, in the United States, in latitude 35°, to Europe, where it passes between Rome and Florence, in latitude 44°. This line is the boundary between the grape region and that of the olive and fig, which require a higher temperature than the grape.

The banks of the Rhine produce excellent grapes, which are brought down the river in great quantities to the seaports. The festival of the Vintage, or the gathering of the grapes, which, like our Thanksgiving season, is intended as a manifestation of gratitude for the fruits of the earth, was celebrated with much joy by the ancient Romans, and is still observed by the people of Italy. It occurs with them about the beginning of September; in France and the south of Germany it is later.

The vine lasts to a considerable age. Although it bears at the age of 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 three or four centuries ago, and have so continued ever since. It is said that in point of age the vine equals or even surpasses that of the oak.

A vineyard, associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and plenty, is, in general, a disappointing object. The hop plantations of England and 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 'poleclipt 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 allowed 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.

In Greece too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are either trained upon trees, particularly upon the lofty elm, or supported, so as to display all their luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the custom of the ancient vine-growers; and their descendants have preserved it in all its picturesque originality. It is said the Persian vine-dressers endeavor to make the vine run up the wall and curl over on the other side, which they do by tying stones to the extremity of the tendrils. A writer remarking upon this, thinks it may illustrate a passage in Genesis-Joseph is a fruitful bough; even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The vine, particularly in Turkey and Greece, is frequently made to entwine on trellises around a well, where, in the heat of the day, whole families collect themselves and sit under their shade.

The extent of the branches of the vine, in favorable situations and circumstances, equally corresponds with its produce and duration. In the hedges of Italy, and in the forests of our own country, the loftiest trees are overtopped by their twining branches, and in many instances they are wholly covered by them. Speechly mentions a vine which, in 1789, was growing in the open air, trained against a row of houses in Northallerton, Yorkshire, and which formerly covered a space of 137 square yards, and was at that time above 150 years of age, and it was judged that it would have extended, if permitted, to three or four times that space. The diameter of the stem of this vine, which died recently, was, at a short distance from the ground, fifteen inches.

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 22 feet by 72, or 1694 square feet. It is a very productive bearer, having seldom fewer than 2000 clusters upon it every season. In 1816 there were at least 2240, weighing each, on the average, a pound; so that the whole crop weighed a ton, and merely as an article of commerce, was worth upwards of 400 pounds.

The size to which the trunk or stem sometimes grows, is so great as to have been formed into planks of fifteen inches in breadth, and also to have been used in furniture and statues. The wood is of the greatest durability; and Pliny observes that none is of a more lasting nature, and that vines were,

with propriety, in olden times, on account of their great size, ranked among trees. Both he and Threophrastus also speak of a vine which had attained a bulk sufficient to make a statue of Jupiter for the city of Apollonium; and the columns for Juno's temple at Metapont were also made of vine. The great doors of the cathedral of Ravenna were also made of vine planks, some of which are twelve feet long, and fourteen to fifteen inches in breadth.

Strabo, who lived in the reign of Augustus, mentions an old vine in Margiana, which was twelve feet in circumference, that the clusters of grapes which it bore were three feet in length. At Ecoan, near Paris, the seat of the late duke of Montmorency, is a table which was made from the body of a single vine.

Almost incredible as the magnitude to which the vine has attained in some cases may appear, it will undoubtedly equally amaze some persons to know the size to which its clusters and fruit have arrived. We have accounts of fruit and clusters of such extraordinary size as to appear incredible to our usual conception of grapes. Heutius informs us that in Crete, Chios, and other islands of the Archipelago, the vines afford bunches of grapes weighing from ten to forty pounds each. The bunch of grapes which was borne on a girdle by two of the spies on their return from the land of Canaan, has already been referred to; and the grapes of Damascus, at the present day, are often found to weigh upwards of twenty-five pounds a bunch.

Several remarkable vines existing at present in England, have been already mentioned. A collection belonging to the duke of Portland, at Welbeck, is said to comprise above a hundred kinds; and it was he who, in 1781, made a present of a bunch of grapes to the marquis of Rockingham which grew in his vinery, and weighed nineteen pounds and a half. This bunch was nineteen and a half inches in the greatest diameter, four and a half feet in circumference, and twentyone three-fourth inches in length, and was conveyed a distance of twenty miles by four men, who carried it by pairs in their turns, suspended on a staff. It was the variety of the Syrian grape, and is now found in several collections in this country.

Distinctions of the varieties of the vine have long been obscure and empiric, and there yet exists a multitude of kinds in regard to which no general points of agreement have been established, or terms and characters agreed on as permanent expressions by which they may be universally designated and recognized.

The names given by the Romans to their vines differ so much from those of modern date, that it would be difficult to recognize them, and to realize their identity with those of the present day, and a few instances only exist where they can be distinctly identified, or where the names have remained unchanged. Virgil has given us the names of some of the kinds most celebrated in his time, and Pliny is quite copious on the subject, but even his list is far from being perfect.

The collection formed by Rozier, Latapie, Chaptal and Champagny contains 550 varieties, 100 of which were figured by Redouté. The vineyard attached to the Linnæan Botanic Garden, New York, contains 513 varieties, 87 of which are natives of America. A particular description of all these varieties cannot be consistently done in a small work like this, and will not, therefore, be expected.

I shall only describe some of the most celebrated varieties of our own country.

THE ISABELLA GRAPE. Vitis labrusca, v. Isabelella. (See Fig.) This grape is said to be a native of South Carolina, and was introduced to the state of New York by Mrs. Isabella Gibbs, lady of George Gibbs, Esq. of St. Augustine, who then resided at Brooklyn, Long Island, and in honor of that lady has been called Isabella grape. It is a dark purple fruit, of a large size, oval form, and juicy, and equals some of the secondary European grapes; and for vigor of growth, and the abundance of fruit it yields, exceeds any other yet cultivated in this country, and requires no protection during the winter season. There is no grape which will yield a greater quantity on a given space, or that can be made more lucrative in cultivation for market than this kind.

It also promises to take an important stand in this country for the purpose of making wine, as it possesses the requisites to insure success in making wine of a fair quality, or for making brandy equal to that of France. The bunches may be dried as raisins with the greatest facility, and they may be preserved in dry sand, saw-dust, or any other similar substance for many months, in the most perfect state.

A peculiarity exists with regard to several of our native varieties, which is particularly exemplified in the Isabella—it is that of producing two crops of fruit on the same shoots in a year, which is frequently the case with this vine; but it seldom arrives to maturity, unless in a season when the autumnal frosts are long protracted.

(To be continued.)

PLATINA.

CLASS-Metallic. GENUS-Platinum.

PLATINA is found among the gold washings of South America, and has also been discovered in St. Domingo, and in the Ural Mountains. It has always been found in small grains in alluvial formations; but from the character of the sands in which it is found, it is probable that its original associations are in primitive rocks. It is never found pure, but is alloyed with iron, copper, lead, osmium, rhodium, iridium and palladium; though these alloys constitute but a small part of the mass of the ore.

Its color is between steel-gray and silver-white, resembling silver, but has less lustre, and is not so white, and its ductility and malleability are very great. It is but a little softer than iron, and is the heaviest of all metals; being 21 times heavier than water. It is the least expansible by heat, most difficult to melt or to unite to oxygen. It becomes fusible in a temperature of 23,177° F. (above zero.) It is therefore preferable to all metals for pendulum rods, for inch measures, for crucibles, for reflecting telescopes, and conductors for the galvanic battery.

It being the most fixed and infusible of all metals, it is polished and used as a concave reflector in the most powerful telescopes, where glass would melt or break. For crucibles and other uses it is employed in the laboratory. It has not been much used in the arts, on account of its scarcity.

Platina may be dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, and will then form muriate of platina, which is a test for potash.

ILLUSTRATION. Put a grain or two of platina into a Florence flask, and pour in a small quantity of nitro-muriatic acid and apply a little heat. It will dissolve very slowly; but in a few days muriate of platina will be formed. Dissolve a little muriate of soda (common salt) in a wine-glass, and a little saltpetre in another. Put a few drops of the muriate of platina into each, and it will produce no effect on the solution of muriate of soda, but will give a yellow precipitate from the solution of saltpetre.

APPLICATION. It is often a convenience to be able to distinguish potash from soda, without going through the long process of evaporation to dryness, and then waiting to see whether it will deliquesce of effloresce.