152 THE OBANGE AND THE SUMACH FAMILIES. 



into the hot-house, where what is nearly hopeless in the open air is 

 compensated a thousand-fold by the skill of our gardeners, whose magni- 

 ficent bunches are nowhere surpassed in England. The best grapes I 

 have seen ripen in the open air grew at Hazle Grove in 1858, a year, 

 like 1842, remarkable for the wealth of its autumnal products, both 

 cultivated and wild. Next in interest to the vine comes the Virginian- 

 creeper, or Ampelopsis hederacea, now so common as a summer tapestry 

 for walls, even in the streets. Though deciduous, it is a great recom- 

 mendation to this plant that in a year or two it will cover many square 

 yards of desolate wall with its handsome quinate leaves, unassisted by 

 training or nailing, and that in the autumn it assumes a fine red, 

 which mingles admirably with the polished green of ivy. The ten- 

 drils of the Virginian-creeper, instead of curling spirally, spread 

 themselves out flat, like an expanded hand, every little finger putting 

 forth an adhesive sucker at the tip, by which it cements itself firmly 

 to the wall. A third plant of the family, common in green-houses, is 

 the Cissus discolor, very slender in the stems, and with large, oval, 

 pointed, velvety leaves, puce-coloured below, and on the upper surface 

 most beautifully flushed with gray and crimson. 



XXIX.— THE ORANGE FAMILY. Aurantidcea. 



Trees immediately known by their leaves, which are large, alternate, 

 oval, pointed, smooth, and full of translucent dots, the lamina articu- 

 lated with the petiole. Flowers white and fragrant, and giving birth 

 to the orange, the lemon, the citron, the lime, the shaddock, and other 

 delicious fruits of similar nature. These precious trees are natives of 

 the East Indies, but have been carried to every countiy in the world 

 that is either wai*m enough for their ciUture out of doors, or can 

 supply them with the shelter of a crystal palace. The common orange 

 is the Citrus Aurdntium. 



XXX.— THE SUMACH FAMILY. Anacardidcea: 



A family of exotic trees, many of great beauty and value, and 

 interesting at present as containing the Sumach, of which two kinds 

 are commonly found in Manchester gardens. The best known is a 



