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vihert'hv if nniltiplies anil spreads greatly. If it 

 be near a w all, the tibrcs will strike into the joints 

 and support the stalks when severed troni the 

 root. \Vhen it is thus supported, the stalks be- 

 come more woody, and rise miieh higher than 

 when it trails on the ground. The petioles are 

 near a foot long ; the three leaflets are ovate- 

 cordate, five inches long, three inches and a 

 halt broad, each on a short petiole; the two side 

 ones oblique to the petiole, but the middle one 

 equal; thev have many transverse veins running 

 from the midrib to the borders. The flowers 

 come out from the side of the stalk in loose 

 panicles, are small and of an herbaceous colour, 

 ntale and female on distinct trees; the latter 

 succeeded by roundish, channelled, smooth ber- 

 ries, of a 2,ray colour, inclosing one or tw o seeds. 

 It grows naturally in many parts of North Ame- 

 rica, and flowers in July. 



Having, in conmion with ivy, the quality of 

 not rising w ithout the support of a wall, tree, or 

 hedge,' it is called in some parts of America 

 Creeping Ivy. It will climb to the top of high 

 trees in woods, the branches every where throw- 

 ing out' fibres that penetrate the trunk. When 

 the stem is cut, it emits a pale brown s..p of a 

 disagreeable scent, and so sharp that letters or 

 marks made upon linen with it cannot be got out 

 again, but grow blacker the more it is washed. 



Like Rhus vernix it is poisonous to some 

 persons, but in a less degree. Kalin relates, that 

 of tw« sisters, one could manage the tree with- 

 out being ail'ected by its venom, whilst the 

 other felt its exhalations as soon as she came 

 within a yard of it, or even when she stood to 

 leev\ ard of it at a greater distance ; that it had 

 not the least efi'ect upon him, though he had 

 made many experiments upon himself, and once 

 the juice squirted into his eye; but that on an- 

 other pers')n's hand, which he had covered very 

 thick with it, the skin, a few hours after, be- 

 came as hard as a piece of tanned leather, and 

 peeled off afterwards in scales. 



There is a variety with a straight and stout 

 trmik, having a brownish ash-eolound bark : 

 the leaves smooth, veined, bright ^reen ab(>ve, 

 somewhat paler underneath, pendulous, and 

 somewhat bent back : in the male plan', the 

 leaves are rather wider and longer, and are drawn 

 more to a point ; in the female they are shorter 

 and blunter, and the petioles are reddish, where- 

 as in the other they are green : the flowers 

 axillary, in racemes ; the mates larger, whitish 

 yellow ; the femals smaller, herbaceous, on the 

 germ instead of the style there are two, some- 

 times three black dots : fruits round, the size 

 and form of coriander seeds, streaked w ith live 

 lines, remaining on the tree till new flowers 



come out ; when the outer rind comes off, and 

 a cretaceous substance comes into view, in 

 which an ash-coloured, hard, horny seed is in- 

 volved, slightly divided on the upper part, and 

 somewhat kidney-shaped. 



The tenth rises with a woody stalk to the 

 height of seven or eight feet, covered with 3 

 brown bark, and having many irregular branches: 

 the leaves on long petioles : the leaflets angu- 

 lar, near two inches long and one inch broad, 

 dark green above, downy underneath : the 

 flowers come out in slender bunches from the 

 side of the branches, are of a whitish herbaceous 

 colour, and soon fall away. It is a native of the 

 Cape. 



The eleventh species rises w ith a woody stalk 

 seven or eight feet high, dividing into several 

 irregular branches, covered with a dark brown 

 bark : the leaves are on pretty long footstalks : 

 the leaflets two inelics long and half an inch 

 broad in the middle, ending in acute points, 

 lucid green above, but downy underneath: the 

 flowers are produced in small loose bunches 

 from the side of the branches ; are small and 

 herbaceous. It is a native of the Cape. 



The twelfth rises with a woody stalk dividing 



into many branches, covered with a brow n bark : 



the leaflets are of a lucid trreen colour. It is a na- 



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tive ot the Cape, flowering in July and August. 



Culture. — The first nine of these ])lants are 

 capable of being raised by seeds and layers, a. id- 

 some of them also by suckers, or their rooting 

 branches. 



In the first method, such of them as do not 

 send up suckers should have the seed procured 

 Irom abroad, and sown in pots of a large size 

 or m beds of light mould, being covered in 

 about the depth of half an inch in the autumn. 

 Those in pots should be protected from the 

 frosts during the winter, and if plunged in a 

 moderate hot-bed in the earlV spring they v-ill 

 be rendered more forward, letting the plants 

 have a i'ree air when they appear. Those in the 

 open ground often remain long before they ve- 

 getate ; they should be kept tree from weeds, be 

 well watered in summer, and have tb.e protection 

 of mats the first winter. When the plants have 

 had the growth of a year or tw o thev may be 

 planted out in nursery-rows till fit to be set out 

 111 the places where they are to remain. Tiie 

 potted plants should have the protection of the 

 frame the second winter, air being treely admit- 

 ted in mild weather : and in the spring lollow- 

 ing they may be shaken out of the pots wiihout 

 injuring the roots, and be set out in nursery- 

 rows, three feet apart, and a foot distant in the 

 rows, where they may remain two years, and 

 then be planted out where they are to rcnuun. 



