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    FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON. 163

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Ii.-^-Geape Gatherings. Whether Our Firs...

    of hidden pale yellowi ainong sh them -green as , so to similar be scarcel in color y discernible to the leaves without , and close so

    inspection . The insi , gnificance of their appearance has furnished Krummacher with not the least beautiful of his " Parables , " when

    he represents the haughty self-sufficient youth Adoniah as led by " forerunner the prophet of into the a noblest vineyard of in fruits spring that and he shown le how arn humble of the vin is e the in may

    the blossoming of his youth ; " and , Adoniah took all these words of Samuel to heartand -went on henceforth with a still soft spirit . "

    The flowers have the , reputation of being odorous , but the perfume is not tible except in an American variety called the

    * " Sweet very Scented percep " which grows by river sides in some parts of the United Statesand , the blossoms of which exhale an exquisite

    fragrance resembling , that of mignonette . But ere long these humble blossoms disappearthe berries which take their place swell larger

    -and larger , until the , little diverging stalklets on which they grow , "together with the central stem whence they proceed , are altogether

    hidden by the clustering mass ; finally the color changes as they ripen , till the vine achieves its full glory . And a glorious object it

    is ! Whether in the pole-supported plant of Germany , but a few ieet high , the short thick stock grown in Spain , of or beaut the scrubb manifested y bush

    to which it is dwarfed in France , there is much y in the elegant form of the triply pointed deeply serrated leaf with its stronglmarked network of veinsso dear to ornamentalists in

    all ages ; in y the wild freedom of its curving , tendrils ; and above all , in its shapely and rich-tinted fruitvarying from clear chrysophras

    , green to semi-lucent amber , or rich bloom-clouded purple , like violets seen through mist , each particular berry blending into one

    fair cluster , that " bunch of grapes" with which Titian loved to illustrate a perfect compositionevery part completely finished in

    itself , yet not obtruding as a part , , but only contributing its share to the completeness of the whole . How graceful too are their growth

    and the positions which their loose suspension on many stalks permits them to assume ! I remember once seeing a cluster which

    had thrown itself over a large gourd with such lightness and freedom as to recall in a moment to my mind the attitude of Ariadne

    on the panther ; and prompt almost a conviction that Dannecker must have been indebted to such a source for the _siiggestion of the

    exquisite pose of that figure . But it is in Greece or in Italy that the vine is seen in erfection ; where with all its other charms is

    combined that of a disp p lay of its natural mode of growth , and " wedded " to the elm or lar it is left free to wreath itself as it will round

    the supporting pop trunk to which it clings , and fling its light festoons in wild luxuriance from bough to bough . With no dusky rootlets

    like those which bear something of earthliness into the loftiest aspirings of the ivy ; with no tenacious suckers like the Virginia

    creeper , adhering with a gripe to the surface it climbs , but only twining its slender tendrils with firm yet gentle clasp round the M . 2

    Fruits In Their Season. 163

    FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON . 163

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1860, page 163, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111860/page/19/