274 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Are many hedges of lilacs. They border the grounds, and even shut 

 in one end of the mansion, with which they seem to hold sweet com- 

 munion. When they are in bloom, here is a sight worth seeing. The 

 whole air is scented for rods around with the fragrance of the delicate 

 pale lilac blossoms. And they have bloomed here year after year ever 

 since the lovely Lady Wentworth had the first ones set out in ante- 

 revolutionary days. 



For most of us the old-fashioned flowers have associations. I 

 never see a spray of lilacs or breathe the fragrance of sweet-williams 

 and mignonette without thinking of the old school-house where these 

 flowers, placed in an old pitcher or bottle, stood on the teacher's desk 

 through long golden summer days. And the roses I have plucked for 

 my pretty school-mates, and the great peonies I have worn under my 

 hat-band, and the bunches of poppies and hollyhocks I carried to cheer 

 a sick friend, all come to my memory whenever any of these flowers 

 pass under my notice. These old flowers have a meaning and significance 

 that newer favorites have not. They speak of another time — of the 

 life of past generations — and their very perfume revives romance rich 

 and varied as any of those in the Decameron. — From " Flowers of the 

 Old Gardens," in "American Gardening" for July. 



PUERARIA Thunbergiana, Bentb. (Pachyrizus Thimhergiarius, 

 Sieb. and Zucc; Dolichos hirsutus, Thunb.). Jap. Kudzu. — This very 

 remarkable vine grows wild in great abundance on the lower slopes of 

 the mountains in Central Japan. It is a large, coarse, woody, decidu- 

 ous vine, which in its mountain home twines its long, slender branches 

 over bushes and trees within reach ; or trails over the rocks and up 

 the slopes on the bare ground, striking root from the nodes at frequent 

 intervals, thus establishing new centers from which to radiate. It has 

 no tendrils, but climbs by twining. The vines are of nearly the same 

 thickness throughout, and the entire plant is covered thickly with 

 short, rough hairs. The leaves resemble those of beans, having three 

 leaflets raised on long petioles, rough on both sides and frequently 

 lobed. The illustration shows the end of a young shoot, much reduced, 

 and one of the young leaves outlined natural size. The plant has three 

 distinct economic uses. The roots are fleshy, and .yield starch of excel- 

 lent quality ; the tough fiber of the inner bark is manufactured into a 

 sort of cloth which combines fineness with remarkable strength ; and 

 in certain situations the vine is unparalleled for ornament and shade. 

 It is probably in this latter capacity that it will J3e prized in this coun- 

 try. The pueraria will thrive in any soil, though it attains its greatest 

 vigor in a porous, rather sandy soil where the roots can push freely in 



