44 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



A marked feature of this beautiful spot, and one that 

 to-day affected the sense of smell no less decidedly than 

 that of sight, was the tangle of grape-vines that cover 

 even the underbrush, and no less often reach to the very 

 tops of the tallest trees. This vigorous vine and the 

 Virginia - creeper strive for every available space to 

 which to cling, and often both intwine the main stem 

 of a towering oak and encumber half its branches. The 

 poor tree has a hard time of it, and often becomes but a 

 mere prop for these rank growths. My attention was 

 particularly called to one enormous grape-vine, not only 

 by its remarkable girth, but by the abundance of its 

 fruit, for the penetrating heat of August sunshine dis- 

 tilled the aromatic essence from the ripening grapes and 

 caused the air to be heavy laden with a sickening sweet. 



I wonder that grape-vines have not given rise to "fish- 

 stories," and I sincerely trust my reference to the vine 

 near Buzzard's Rest will not induce others to bring 

 about such a practice. This vine, it may be briefly 

 stated, is a foot in circumference at the ground and for 

 some distance beyond, and is something more than one 

 hundred yards long. 



This vine extends directly upward but five feet, when 

 it turns at a right angle for the same distance, and then 

 reaches upward, backward, and-downward, "to the place 

 of beginning," as they say in deeds. Then it grows di- 

 rectly upward to the very highest branches of a swamp 

 white-oak, a distance of forty feet from the ground. 

 Having secured itself there, the vine returns for a dozen 

 feet or so, and then crosses a clear space of thirteen 

 yards and climbs about another oak still taller than the 



