ON THE DRAPERY OF COTTAGES AND GARDENS. 



355 



will touch it at once with something of 

 grace and beauty. 



" What are our favorite vines ?" This is 

 what you would ask of us, and this is what 

 we are most anxious to tell you ; as we 

 see, already, that no sooner will the spring 

 open, than you will immediately set about 

 the good work. 



Our two favorite vines, theni, for the 

 adornment of cottages, in the northern 

 states, are the double Prairie Ro$e, and the 

 Chinese Wistaria. Why we like these 

 best is, because they have the greatest 

 number of good qualities to recommend 

 them. In the first place, they are hardy, 

 thriving in all soils and exposures ; in the 

 second place, they are luxuriant in their 

 growth, and produce an effect in a very 

 short time — after which, they may be kept 

 to the limits of a single pillar on the piaz- 

 za, or trained over the whole side of a cot- 

 tage ; in the last place, they are rich in the 

 foliage, and beautiful in the blossom. 



Now there are many vines more beauti- 

 ful than these in some respects, but not for 

 this purpose, and taken altogether. For 

 cottage drapery, a popular vine must be 

 one that will grow anywhere, with little 

 care, and must need no shelter, and the 

 least possible attention, beyond seeing that 

 it has something to run on, and a looking 

 over, pruning, and tying up once a year — 

 say in early spring. This is precisely the 

 character of these two vines ; and hence 

 we think they deserve to be planted from 

 one end of the Union to the other. They 

 will give the greatest amount of beauty, 

 with the least care, and in the greatest 

 number of places. 



The Prairie roses are, no doubt, known 

 to most of you. They have been raised 

 from seeds of the wild rose of Michigan, 

 which clambers over high trees in the 

 forests, and are remarkable for the profu- 



sion of their very double flowers ; (so double, 

 that they always look like large pouting 

 buds, rather than full blown roses ;) and 

 their extreme hardiness and luxuriance of 

 growth, — shoots of twenty feet, in a single 

 year, being a not uncommon sight. Among 

 all the sorts yet known, the Queen of the 

 Prairies, (deep pink,) and Superba, (nearly 

 white,) are the best. 



We wish we could give our fair readers 

 a glance at a Chinese Wistaria in our 

 grounds, as it looked last April. It covered 

 the side of a small cottage completely. If 

 they will imagine a space of 10 by 20 feet, 

 completely draped with Wistaria shoots, 

 on which hung, thick as in a flower pat- 

 tern, at least 500 clusters of the xnost deli- 

 cate blossoms, of a tint between pearl and 

 lilac, each bunch of bloom shaped like that 

 of a locust tree, but eight inches to a foot 

 long, and most gracefully pendant from 

 branches just starting into tender green 

 foliage ; if, we say, they could see all this, 

 as we saw it, and not utter exclamations of 

 delight, then they deserve to be classed 

 with those women of the nineteenth century, 

 who are thoroughly "fit for sea-captains." 



For a cottage climber, that will take care 

 of itself better than almost any other, and 

 embower door and windows with rich foli- 

 age and flowers, take the common Bour- 

 sault Rose. Long purplish shoots, foliage 

 always fresh and abundant, and bright 

 purplish blossoms in June, as thick as stars 

 in a midnight sky,' — all belong to this plant. 

 Perhaps the richest and prettiest Boursault, 

 is the one called by the nurserymen Amo' 

 dls, or Elegans ; the flower a bright cherry 

 colour, becoming crimson purple as it fades, 

 with a delicate stripe of white through an 

 occasional petal. 



• There are two very favorite climbers 

 that belong properly to the middle states, 

 as they are a little tender, and need protec- 



