214 



BITTERSWEET 



THIS robust and sturdy climber gives the most 

 cheering manifestation of life and vigour in the 

 winter woods* Its bright scarlet and orange berries, 

 with their three-lobed pods standing carelessly open, 

 are indifferent to rain, snow, and frost* They do 

 not resent the importunities of admirers, and will 

 survive the winter as comfortably in a vase on a 

 parlour table as under the sheltering sprays of a 

 tolerant Cedar or exposed in the naked top of a 

 Maple or Wild Cherry, They will even submit to 

 an occasional washing, and will come out fresh and 

 glossy relieved of accumulations of the inevitable 

 dust. These bunches of brilliant colour often relieve 

 the dark-green shades of the Cedar, a tree with which 

 the vine seems to take all manner of liberties* Each 

 berry has a showy, orange rind, that opens in three 

 parts like a half-peeled orange, displaying the bright 

 scarlet fruit* This has three minute ridges formed in 

 its efforts to open the divisions of the rind* When 

 the clustered berries wither on the Night-shade and 

 grow dull on the Mountain Ash with the advance of 

 winter, the bright colours of the Bittersweet seem to 

 grow more and more brilliant. 



