The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-02-14
velvet jackets covered with embroidery
and wide calico drawers reaching not

anu WIue Calico drawers roachlug not
quite to the knee.
The best raisins in the world come
from the barren elevations where only
a few inches of soil conceal the rock.
The vines are planted upon terraces.
built up of stones, and are fortified
with loan brought from the valley be-
low. The estates to which the vineyards
belong are the most valuable in the
kingdom and have been in the same
families for centuries. Vines are still
bearing abundantly that are known to
be more than three hundred years old.
They are not trained upon stakes, or
trellises, but are allowed to follow their
own sweet will; and the gnarled and
twisted stalks, only two or three feet
high, and often eighteen inches in diam
eter, would never be recognized else
where as grape-vines. The vintage
begins about the middle of Sep
TENDER and lasts six weeks. It is
popular festival and is celebrated
with the license of the Roman Saturn
ALA. Its opening is announced to the
assembled peasantry, with great for
mality, by the proprietor of vineyard,
and is accompanied by quaint ceremo-
MES handed down from the Middle
Ages. For the time all social distinc-
lions are levelled; the master, who feels
| his consequence so stupenduously else
where, seating himself and his family
at the same table with the servants and
| joining freely in their games until
the end of the fiesta, which closes with
a proclamation similar to that with
which it is inaugurated; and then
Richard is eminently his old proud self
again. The grapes are gathered in fiat
baskets, mostly by women, and thrown
into large vat. When the vat is near
| ly full, as many men and boys as can
get into it, jump in and dance upon the
grapes, to the lively strains Of music
drawn from a number of guitars and
that they are all bare-footed, for while
many remove their dusty sandals,
others don them on purpose to keep
the grape-seeds out of their toe-nails.
| When the grapes are sufficiently bruised,
the dancers climb out, dripping juice
and perspiration and stained crimson
from top to toe. The mass is then
placed in a rude press and the remain
ing juice exhailed If the most invet-
, crate wine-bibber were to watch the
| whole modus operandi of it's making, l
think his appetite for the favorite tip
pie would be impaired.
The raisin grapes are somewhat diff
ferent in appearance and treatment.
Far as the eye can see stretch the vine
yards in every direction-not the clam
bering green vines described by the
poets, but short, unsightly stubs, set a
few feet apart in regular rows. Around
each root is little trench, or basin, to
gather and retain the precious moist
ure which is the condition of their
! life and the source Of their rich prod
uct. Every foot of earth is planted
! Even where water has furrowed the
steep height the rift of red soil is COW
cred with vines The great clusters of
oval shaped berries, full of sweet juice,
which we find SO costly in the markets
at home, packed in brown kegs full of
cork ust,-picked prematurely for
transportation not taste at all like
these gathered on the spot, in full per-
lection, with suggestions of the South
ern sun and balmy breezes from the
Mediterranean in their indescribable
flavor. FANNIE B. WARD.