286 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 
Fic. 120. A spray of wild grape. 
the climbing roses and honeysuckles, 
of the scarlet trumpet-vine, of the 
virgin’s-bower, of the morning-glory 
and the sweet pea. Most of these 
are fragrant as well as beautiful. 
Fragrant also are the less conspicu- 
ous flowers of the wild grape, the 
climbing hemp (Mikania scandens) 
of the marshes, and the apios. 
Vines are plants that cannot stand 
alone. They must have some sup- 
port to hang or lean upon. They 
vary in size from the wild grape that 
revels in the tops of the great trees 
of the forest, to the little cranberry 
that trails over the surface of the 
bog. They vary in strength from 
the wiry rattans to the succulent cucurbits. Some of them 
are possessed of special climbing apparatus; more of them 
sustain themselves by twining about their supports; some 
of the lesser herbaceous sorts maintain their position merely 
by leaning—resting their elbows, so to speak—upon their 
neighbors. All of them are long of reach and rapid of 
Fic. 121. 
Virginia creeper or '' woodbine”. 
