Wood being scarce in Persia, and poles, stakes, and sticks for upright and lateral support not being easily procurable, the mode of culture of the vine has come to be by planting in deep broad trenches, with high sloping banks, up and over which the stems and branches run and fall.  The trenches are made to lie so as to allow of the bank-slopes having the best exposure.  This is the system followed on the flat, but in hilly ground, by means of careful trimming and the assistance of piled stones, the plants are made to develop strong standard stems, with bunchy, bushy tops.  I was particularly struck a few years ago with the neat, well-tended vineyards at the village of Imam-Zadeh-Ismail, in the hills about forty miles north-west of Persepolis.  Almost the whole of the village lands were laid out in vineyards, well walled and beautifully kept.  The vines looked as if they were tended by those who understood their culture well, and they appeared to thrive wonderfully on the light soil of the place.  Surprising energy had been shown in clearing the ground, which was naturally stony; and there was abundant evidence of much patient labour in the garden-like enclosures.  Vineyards occupied all the flat ground on which the village stood, and they extended up the slopes.  Hillside clearing was going on all around for further planting of vines, which were seen to flourish there.  Raisins are largely made there, and I was told by my Kashkai conductor (for I was well off the beaten track and required a guide), who seemed to know what he was talking about, that the fresh grapes were used for wine, but not in the village.  The religious character of the chief inhabitants of the village, who are sheikhs, and guardians of the Holy Shrine of the mausoleum of the Imam-Zadeh-Ismail, which lies within its limits, prevents the preparation there of the forbidden fermented juice of the grape.  The shrine is endowed with the village lands rent free, and all these lands are devoted to vine cultivation.  The vineyards at Shiraz have been greatly extended of late years, and particular attention is now paid to the cultivation of the Kholar grape, as the best suited for wine.  This grape takes its name from the village of Kholar, which is within a few miles of the town.  Tabriz, Hamadan, Isfahan, and Shiraz produce the best wine in Persia.  Red and white are made at all these places; the white wine of Hamadan is a sort of strong sauterne, and some of it has quite a delicate flavour; Isfahan produces a wine of a port character, and the best shiraz is sometimes like new madeira.  All these wines resemble in strength those that are now made in Australia.  Something is wanting in the mode of manufacture to make the wine capable of improvement with keeping, and also of bearing transport.  The advent of the Russian road will probably lead to the development of Kasvin’s large area of fruitful vines, and the success which has attended vineyard industry at Derbend, on the Caspian, may encourage similar enterprise there.