The Possum 159 



well worth eating when picked frozen from the 

 tree. Betwixt the early sort and the late there is 

 a constant succession. All but the very latest 

 cast their fruit as soon as it reaches full ripeness. 

 Wild grapes are something the same way. 

 They are divided roughly into summer grapes 

 and winter ones, though the summer grapes 

 do not ripen until October. They turn black 

 the last of August, but are hard and so sour, 

 even the birds leave the clusters for a while 

 untouched. By and by when the leaves turn 

 yellow, and the tendrils crisp, summer grapes 

 are truly delectable. Strong young vines 

 rooted in a rich hedgerow, or woodland, bear 

 many long clusters of fruit as big as a pea. 

 Old vines cumbered with much wood, blos- 

 som profusely, but bear little fruit. What 

 they do bear commonly hangs so high the birds 

 get all of it, though sometimes when the crop 

 is heavy, and there comes a warm rainy spell 

 just after frost, the grapes drop from the 

 bunches and feast the hogs wild and tame 

 which may happen to have the range of the 

 woods. These vines climb to the tip of the 

 tallest oaks, and occasionally are as big around 

 as a man's body. How they climb so high is 

 a mystery. Often they have long swaying 

 cables two inches through, running up, up, with 

 no sign of tendril, nor of twig to which a ten- 

 dril might cling, for thirty or forty feet. 



