upwards of two thousand clusters, De Re Rust. iii. 3. A vine producing a fifth of this quantity has been thought extraordinary in modern Egypt: “Il n’est pas croyable combien rapporte un seul pied de vigne. Il y en a un dans la maison Consulaire de France, qui a porté 436 grosses grappes de raisin, et qui en donne ordinairement 300.”—De Maillet, Description de l’Egypte, p. 17.* In the Grecian Archipelago, however, the vine has been known to yield still more abundantly than in Egypt: “On a compté pendant trois ans consécutifs, cent trente-quatre grappes de raisin sur une souche; et sur un autre cep de vigne planté dans un terrain très-gras, on a compté jusqu’à quatre cent quatre-vingts grappes; et l’intendant de l’évêché de notre île m’a plus d’une fois assuré qu’on avoit fait soixante-quinze bouteilles de vin, avec le raisin d’un seul cep.” Della Rocca, t. i. p. 65. ----- To preserve the grapes fresh some cut off with a sharp pruninghook the clusters separately, others the branches on which they grew, after which, dipping the stem into pitch and removing the damaged grapes with a pair of scissors, they spread them in cool and shady rooms, on layers of pulse-halm, or hay, or straw.[1602] The halm of lentils was usually preferred, because it is hard and dry, and repels mice. On other occasions, the branches were kept suspended, having sometimes been previously dipped in sweet wine. Grapes were likewise preserved in pitched coffers, immersed in dry saw-dust of the pitch tree, or the silver fir, or the black poplar, or even in millet flour. Others plunged the bunches in boiling sea-water, or if this were not at hand, into a preparation of wine, salt, and water, and then laid them up in barley straw. Others boiled the ashes of the fig-tree, or the vine, with which they sprinkled the bunches. Others preserved grapes by suspending them in granaries, where the grain beneath was occasionally moved, for the dust rising from the corn settled on the outside of the clusters, and protected them from the air. Another method was to boil rain-water to a third, and then, after cooling it in the open air, and pouring it into a pitched vessel, to fill it with clusters perfectly cleansed. The vessel was then covered, luted with gypsum, and laid by in a cold place. The grapes in this way remained quite fresh, and the water itself acquiring a vinous taste was administered to sick persons in lieu of wine. Occasionally, also, grapes as well as apples were kept in honey. ----- Footnote 1602: Geop. iv. 15. 4. -----