USES AND HABITS OF VINES 7 
strain on the vine. The gourd family (Cucurbi- 
taceg@), is illustrative of plants whose tendrils 
twist spirally. 
It is wonderful the way nature takes care of 
her own; how she has endowed them with the 
means of caring for themselves. Nearly all 
plants have something about them which on 
first appearance seems of little consequence, but 
for which, on better acquaintance, we can readily 
understand the necessity. ‘This is more noticeable 
in climbing plants than in any other class of 
nature’s work. An instance of this is found in 
every vine that has tendrils. The young tendril 
invariably turns away from the light, thus, of 
course, coming into contact with any object it is 
growing on. Another illustration: have you ever 
noticed on a grape vine that a tendril will always 
come on the branch directly above the bunch? 
This, of course, relieves the strain ‘on the shoot, 
which otherwise might break with the weight 
of the fruit. 
There are alsosome climbing plants that have 
both tendrils and disks. ‘These disks are soft 
little cushions that grow on the tips of the tendrils 
and emit a liquid, which, when removed from the 
disk, remains semi-liquid for months, but if left 
on the disks will soon harden and fasten them to 
