1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



163 



bloomer, producing flowers in open ground from 

 June until severe frost stops them in Fall. It will 

 no doubt prove as hardy as Anna Marie de 

 Montraval, enduring our winters with slight pro- 

 tection. There is another Polyantha rose not well 

 known, Mdlle Cecile Bruner. When I first 

 bl Domed it two years ago, I did not think it was 

 very nice, as it showed a kind of salmon pink 

 color; but on trying it out in open ground last 

 year on a large scale it proved to be one of the 

 finest roses in our collection of its class. The 

 color of the flowers was better than under glass, 

 showing a fine pink, and the clusters were very 

 fine ; some containing as many as twenty-five 

 distinct flowers about an inch in diameter and 

 double ; the plants were in bloom until Novem- 

 ber. We have also a great many other New 

 French and English roses that are very fine. 



[Certainly very pretty. These roses make bou- 

 quets in themselves, and this new class will assur- 

 edly become very popular. — Ed. G. M.] 



NOTES FROM VIRGINIA. 

 BY MAX, STAUNTON, VA. 



Have had what may be called an open winter, 

 the thermometer never marking lower than 10° F, 

 above zero. Occasional snows and sleets but no 

 snow-storm leaving above three inches on the 

 ground, and that generally dissipated by the sun 

 within two or three days. Yet our roses are more 

 severely injured than for years past. Teas and 

 Noisettes killed to the root; Hybrid Perpetuals cut 

 back to within six to fifteen inches of the ground, 

 while evergreens have not suffered at all — even 

 Euonymus japonicus (which is generally injured) 

 shows no sign of rough weather. Why is this ? 

 Devoniensis and Bon Silene roses withstood the 

 winter while T. de Luxembourg and Safrano (all 

 adjacent) were destroyed. 



The white moth is attacking sweet scented 

 Geraniums here and not touching Coleus in the 

 same house. Will you or some one of your 

 correspondents who have used Pyrethrum against 

 the cabbage worm give manner of use and 

 results ? 



[Plants which stand a temperature of some 

 degrees below freezing, do not die from "frost," that 

 is cell-rupture, as geraniums, tomatoes, and such 

 plants do ; but from evaporation of the juices faster 

 than the roots can supply them. Just how evap- 

 oration injured the roses, local examination only 

 could show. — Ed. G. M.] 



CLIMBING PLANTS— AMPELOPSIS. 

 BY J. R, T., NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 



There is no out-of-door decoration upoA which 

 the eye rests with more gratification than the 

 I graceful climbing plants, and where beauty of 

 foliage is combined with elegance of bloom the 

 effect is greatly augmented. Some, however, of 

 the most desirable of this class of plants, bear 

 but insignificant blossoms. The many yearly 

 additions to the florist's catalogues put it within 

 the means of every one to ornament and beautify 

 his homestead, be it ever so humble. For this 

 purpose there is nothing superior to the hardy 

 climbers or creepers, whether to cover an unsight- 

 ly fence, to festoon an artificial trellis or to adorn 

 the dwelling house itself. There are scores of 

 them so well known that it is almost superfluous 

 to mention any, yet some of the oldest, most 

 familiar and altogether the best, seem to be least 

 cultivated. I will therefore, with your permission, 

 Mr. Editor, name a few (in this and succeeding 

 articles) that succeed well here, in the hope that 

 others may be induced to follow the example of 

 the writer. Should any .do so and obtain half the 

 satisfaction he has from the few under cultivation 

 on his own premises, he will be amply repaid. 



One important point in order to obtain the best 

 results, is the selection of plants that will success- 

 fully resist the cold of our New England winters ; 

 plants that can take care of themselves. Among 

 climbers I know of none that affords greater satis- 

 faction than the Ampelopsis qiunquefolia, Virgin- 

 ian creeper. It belongs to the vine family and is 

 thus described by Gray : 



" Calyx slightly 5 toothed ; Petals, concave, 

 thick, expanding before they fall ; Disk none ; 

 Leaves digitate, with 5 oblong, lanceolate sparingly 

 serrate leaflets. Flower-clusters cymose. Tendrils 

 fixing themselves to trunks or walls by dilated 

 sucker like disks at their tips." 



It is abundantly hardy, of vigorous growth and 

 of graceful form. Its flowers are insignificant and 

 its berries small and scarcely noticeable. It is 

 peculiarly adapted to the ornamentation of brick 

 walls, its little disks or suckers at the extremity of 

 the tendril, clinging with great tenacity to the 

 mortar and brick. It requires no training or fasten- 

 ing. Plant it in moderately rich soil, give it but 

 ordinary attention and it will rapidly climb the 

 wall. To me it is surprising that a creeper, com- 

 bining as it does so many elements of attractive- 

 ness and withal so easy of cultivation, should not 

 become more popular. I know not how it may be 



