PREFACE. 



Possibly the opinion of some would be that this volume 

 of the series deals with a subject less interesting than that 

 of the first volume, on the Trees, and of the second 

 volume, on the Shrubs. I doubt if such judgment would 

 be deserved. There are too many names among the vines 

 that are of high repute for one or another of various quali- 

 ties ; witness, for uniqueness, the Dodder, with its tangle 

 of yellow threads, and Pyxie ; for meanness, the Poison- 

 Ivy ; for lovableness, the Trailing Arbutus ; for old-time 

 friendliness, Morning-Glories. 



Moreover in even larger measure than the trees and the 

 shrubs, the vines have a personality of their own. Once 

 recognize a species, and it can seldom be confused with 

 another, so varied are the postures (prostrate, reclining, 

 climbing) and the methods of climbing (by help of ten- 

 dril, of rootlet, of disk, of downward pointing prickles and 

 hairs), besides the ordinary differences of foliage and flower 

 and fruit. The vines are all characters, even cranks, 

 some of them ; and the better we know them, the more of 

 individuality they seem to have ; and with it all, the better 

 we like them. 



