SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 509 



It is a common thing to train Jackmanis and other kinds of garden cle- 

 matis up among branches of trees, where, "when in bloom, they have fine 

 effect. The Virginia creeper is sometimes treated in the same fashion for 

 the brilliant effect of its foliage in the fall. The Chinese wistaria is one of 

 the best of vines for this use, and the periploca, akebia, and honeysuckle 

 may likewise be used to advantage. The Canada moonseed and climbing 

 waxwork will enjoy themselves exceedingly among the lower branches of the 

 trees; and the Dutchman's pipe delights in such liberty. Bare stems of 

 trees may be covered with Japanese ivy — Ampehpsis tricuspidata. On many 

 a farm is a wooded ravine, and this is just the place for vine clad trees. 



I remember when visiting Robert Douglas, at Waukegan, 111., with what 

 glowing pride the veteran "forty-niner" brought me in front of a wooded 

 ravine near his house, that I might see the splendid effect of the trees upon 

 the distant bank, whose limbs were bending with the load of drapery which 

 they supported, and with what a gleam of satisfaction he pointed out the 

 many trees — big trees now — he had planted, the vines that he had encouraged 

 to grow up upon them, and the undergrowth, both herbs and shrubs, that 

 he set out there. He had snatched from desolation an unsightly, gloomy 

 chasm and planted it with trees, and shrubs and vines, and thus secured 

 what is to-day one of the prettiest ravines or glens in Illinois. 



Akebia Quinata. — President Lyon says: We are at a loss to imagine why 

 this climber, which has now been for many years before the American public, 

 has taken so slight a hold upon the fancy of planters. As hardy as an oak, it 

 is among the very early spring bloomers, bearing its flowers five or six in a 

 cluster, consisting of one comparatively large pistillate flower, with from two 

 to six or more smaller staminate blooms. 



The flowers are dark purple, with a peculiar, pleasant fragrance; and are 

 produced in abundance. It is said to produce fruit upon old plants ; but al- 

 though we have now grown it for seven or eight years, we have not yet seen the 

 fruit. 



The plant has a twining habit, somewhat like our native Bittersweet ( Celas- 

 trus scandens), and the foliage is very peculiar and ornamental, consisting of 

 five oblong, ovate, glossy leaflets, springing from the top of a single footstalk. 



Our plant stands in strong clay loam, against the east side of a building, 

 where it seems quite at home, making annual growths of from twenty to thirty 

 feet. It is a native of Japan, which country has supplied us with very many 

 useful plants, and has been long enough introduced so that the nurseries offer 

 it at very moderate prices; although it is by no means easy of propagation by 

 those who have not special facilities for the purpose. 



How Vines Mat be Trained. — To one who enjoys the artificial method of 



training vines, the following by a correspondent of the Philadelphia Press will 



be interesting: 



Take, for instance, the now common golden-veined honeysuckle, and by fre- 

 quent pruning, while making summer growth, it will form a large bed of any 

 hight desired, and few of our most valued bedding plants can excel its bright 

 golden tints. When the mass is sheared, in imitation of a mound slightly 

 raised in the center, with a central figure composed of an umbrella-shaped 

 frame covered with the long twigs of this vine, the effect is visibly brightened. 



