126 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



and varied. At the top was the Catawba grape — 

 having no superior in any part of the world. The 

 Isabella came next. Then followed the fox-grape 

 and the small "wild grape." This last is eagerly- 

 sought by every kind of fruit-eating bird. There 

 is no more agreeable tart. We have a large vine at 

 home, and if we want any grapes have to take them 

 immature. The birds congregate from all parts of 

 the village, and make short work of the two or three 

 bushels the vine produces. The squirrels, raccoons, 

 opossums, bears, and other wild animals were 

 equally fond of them. I have seen a vine which was 

 five inches in diameter two feet above the roots, 

 climbing to the height of one hundred feet, and 

 hanging a giant honey-locust tree blue with its 

 drapery of clusters. This grape mixed with the 

 sweet elderberry made a royal pie — the sweet of the 

 one toning up the acid of the other to a flavor most 

 delicious, and each supplying a superabundance of 

 wine, which had to be eaten from the pie-dish with 

 a spoon. No sugar was required. No fruit is more 

 wholesome, or a better general tonic. Then we 

 had wild plums — superior to any of the imported 

 varieties; mulberries, sweet but not very digestible; 

 blackberries fully ripe and properly treated, which 

 make the most delicious pie ever eaten. Those we 

 get in the city markets are not fit to eat. When 

 unripe the core is hard and indigestible, and very 

 irritating to the stomach. But a fully ripe black- 

 berry — if Adam could have had a supply of them 



