98 September 1748. 



well, and fpun fo much lilk, as to afford him a 

 fufficient quantity for cloathing himfelf and all 

 his family. 



SEVERAL Ibrts of Vines likewife grow wild 

 hereabouts. Whenever I made a little excur- 

 fion out of town, I faw them in numerous places 

 climbing up trees and hedges. They clafp 

 around them, and cover them fometimes entirely, 

 and even hang down on the fides. This has the 

 fame appearance, at a diftance, as the tendrils of 

 hops climbing along trees. I enquired of Mr. 

 Bartram, why they did not plant vineyards, or 

 prefs wine from the grapes of the wild vine ? 

 But they anfwered, that the fame objection lay 

 againft it, which lies againft the eredtion of a 

 01k manufacture, that the neceffary hands were 

 too fcarce, and it therefore was more rational to 

 make agriculture their chief employment. But 

 the true reafon undoubtedly is, that the wine 

 which is preffed out of moft of the North Ame- 

 rican wild grapes, is four and fharp, and has not 

 near fuch an agreeable tafte as that which is made 

 from European grapes. 



THE Virginian Wake robin, or Arum Virgini- 

 cum, grows in wet places. Mr. Bar tram told 

 me, that the favages boiled the fpadix and the 

 berries of this flower, and devoured it as a great 

 dainty. When the berries are raw, they have 

 a harfh, pungent tafte, which they lofe in great 

 meafure upon boiling. 



THE Sarothra Gentianoides, grows abundantly 

 in the fields, and under the bufhes, in a dry fandy 

 ground near Philadelphia. It looks extremely 



like 



