Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/71

 a change in the physical appearance of the vine, and still more, in the qualities of its fruits; it is only necessary to change the circumstances in which it is placed, as regards climate, or soil and situation.

It has been already said, that Europe is indebted to Asia for the vine. It would, perhaps, have been more correct to say, for its culture. The Phenicians brought the knowledge of this into Greece, and the Grecian Archipelago, and afterwards into Sicily and Italy, in both which countries it is reported to have previously grown wild. In the time of Romulus, it had made little progress: but, under the fostering protection of Numa, vineyards were extended, and wines produced in abundance throughout the Roman territory. In the time of Domitian, it had made considerable progress in France, for it was one of the acts which marked the imbecility and ignorance of this tyrant , to order the destruction of all the vineyards of Gaul, because a deficiency in the crops of grain had been attended with a superabundant vintage; as if there were any