fertile fields:--

'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields
Her boasted titles and her golden fields;
With grim delight the brood of winter view
A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue.
Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose.
And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.'[8]

"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are
either trained upon trees, 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.[9] The vine-dressers of Persia train their
vines to run up a wall, and curl over on the top. But the most
luxurious cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers
the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner and his
family to gather beneath its shade. 'The fruitful bough by well' is of
the highest antiquity."

Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the Strawberry,
the account of the Egg Plant is particularly attractive; and that of
the Olive is well-written, but too long for extract.

Among the _Tropical Fruits_, the Orange and the Date are very
delightful; and equal in importance and interest are the Cocoa Nut
and Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible to open the volume
without being gratified with the richness and variety of its contents,
and the amiable feeling which pervades the inferences and incidental
observations of the writer.