Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/262

LEFT VINDHYA MOUNTAINS 224 VINE VINDHYA MOUNTAINS, a range of hills which extends across central India, almost due E. and W. from the plateau of Chota Nagpur, overhanging the basin of the Ganges, to the shore of the Ara- ^ bian Sea in Gujerat. Their total length is about 500 miles, and the highest peak does not exceed 6,000 feet. The forma- tion is granitic overlaid with sandstone. They form on the N. a continuous border to the Nerbudda, and with that river they are regarded as forming the traditional boundary between Hindustan proper on the N. and the Deccan on the S. The "fourfold girdle round the waist of In- dia" is completed by the Satpura range and the Tapti river. VINE, the Vitis of the botanist, is a genus of which there are a number of species ; they are found over a wide range of the Northern Hemisphere, the major- ity in temjjerate Asia, as well as in North America, and a few are found in Europe. The genus belongs to the vitxa section of the order Vitacex. It has pentamerous flowers (five-toothed, five petals, and five stamens) ; the petals are attached to the disks at the base of the ovary, but, con- trary to general rule, they adhere at the top and form a cap, which is thrown off by the stamens as they elongate and ex- pand; the latter adhere for a time to the base of the fruit. All the species are furnished with claspers by which to lay hold for their support on any object within their reach. Some have leaves greatly lobed, others have been nearly plain. The V. vinifera, the European wine- jaelding grape vine, is that which has the greatest economic and commercial im- portance. It is found on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and it grows wild throughout the lower Caucasus and in Armenia. The cultivation of this plant has occupied much of man's time and at- tention in all nations that have attained to any degree of civilization, from the very dawn of history, and it is spreading more rapidly at the present time than ever it did at any previous one. The endless variety of grape vines in culti- vation seems to indicate that the V. vini- fera is not a true species, and this view is confirmed by the circumstance that seed taken from any variety of grape does not reproduce the parent, as it should do if it were an unbroken species, but one widely different, and as a rule very inferior to the parent, except in exceedingly rare instances, when a step m advance may take place. The writer has raised hundreds of vines from seeds taken from the finest grapes in cultiva- tion, the rare exception being a variety equal or superior to the parent, and the rule being a reversion to a very inferior type; it is questionaole if any of our high-class grapes are to be found in an uncultivated state in any part of the world. The plant has evidently been developed by the ingenuity of man at some very remote date, of which there is no record, just as our apples, plums, pears, peaches, and many other fruits and vegetables have been; and if man's constant care were withdrawn from their cultivation they would soon disappear from the earth, leaving it in possession of their wild progenitors. By many Persia is thought to be the home of the grape vine, and excellent wine is still made there and exported. In European graves of the Bronze Age grape stone"^ have been found, and in Greece and Italy the culture is primeval. The culture of wine on a commercial scale is dealt with in the article on wine, and in the articles on the wine growing countries. In Europe now the line of open-air culture of the vine on a large scale passes from the country just N. of the Loire in France through Belgium, central Germany, and Silesia; but in the Middle Ages wine was largely pro- duced N. of this — in north France, Hol- land, and in England — either because the climate was warmer, or because con- sumers were content with poorer wine. The cultivation of the grape vine was introduced into England by the Romans. At the date of the Norman Conquest there is evidence that the vine was pretty extensively cultivated in the S. and S. W. of England for the production of wine till about the middle of the 18th century, when for this purpose its cultivation was given up, and it was grown for des- sert purposes against walls and dwell- ing houses with considerable success, and continues to be so grown up to this date. For this mode of cultivation the Royal Muscadine, Sweetwater, and Black Ham- burg are among the most suitable. All the finer sorts of grapes, such as Fronti- gnans. Muscats, Gros Colman, and many others of the higher classes of grapes, can only be cultivated in Great Britain in hothouses, and at the present date enormous quantities are so cultivated in Great Britain and the Channel Islands, some growers sending from 50 to 100 tons to market annually. This great supply depressed the price of grapes by more than one-half since 1882, very much to the public benefit, for it is now recognized that for man, whether in health or sickness, there is no more wholesome or grateful food than good grapes, acting as they do favorably on every organ of the body. The soil most suitable for the vine in Great Britain is a good calcareous.