DECORATIVE VALUE OF THE VINE 5 



gardens since the middle of the seventeenth century is 

 the North American V. aestivalis, or Summer Grape, 

 which is, like most of the vines, graceful and pleasant, 

 and in some autumns takes on a brilliant red colour. 

 Another old species introduced into this country two 

 hundred years ago is the Tree Vine (V. arborea), with 

 beautiful deeply divided foliage. This species is seen to 

 best advantage when grown as a sprawler, as it is some- 

 what bushy in habit. One of the best and most vigorous 

 of the American species is the Northern Fox Grape 

 (V. Labrusca), the leaves of which, however, usually 

 fail to colour in autumn. None of the true American 

 grape-vines take on so rich an autumn tint as some of 

 the varieties of Ampelopsis now classed among the 

 vines though the strong-growing V. Californica is a 

 near rival in that respect. But even the old Virginian 

 Creeper is surpassed by the well-known Asiatic species, 

 Ampelopsis Veitchi, which has become so generally 

 cultivated in this country for the beautiful and very varied 

 forms of its leaves, for its hardihood aud vigour, for the 

 richness of its autumn colours, and for its useful habit 

 of clinging to the surface of wall or building. Of the 

 true Asiatic vines apart from the varieties of V. 

 vinifera the one most frequently grown in England is 

 probably the Hop-Leaved Vine, which often has, especially 

 if grown against a wall, quite a crop of little blue grapes, 

 is very beautiful in habit, and possesses delightful foliage. 

 But supreme among the decorative vines is the vigorous, 

 large-leaved Japanese species, V. Coignetiae, which in its 

 native home clambers over the tops of the tallest trees. 

 Through the summer the large green leaves have their 

 under surface clothed with fawn-coloured down ; but it 

 is in the autumn that the plant is most glorious, for then 

 its foliage assumes every shade of crimson, orange, rose, 

 yellow and scarlet. 



The pleasure to be derived from the vines is increased ] 



