28o AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 



the beautiful blue clusters of the Glycine appear. They blossom 

 about the middle of May, a^t the same time with the Syringa, 

 horse-chestnut, and bush pseony. In the mild districts of Ger- 

 many, near the Rhine and Main, the Wistaria endures the winter 

 excellently in the open air. It is trained on houses and arbours 

 and is noted everywhere for rapid growth and the strong inclina- 

 tion to turn its slender branches from left to right. Several strong 

 shoots are often wound together in a evenly twisted cable that 

 becomes impossible to unloose as it grows larger. The Wistaria 

 adapts itself well in Mediterranean countries, where it often creeps 

 over the trunks of other ornamental plants, such as Shinus molle. 

 And when its young bright-green leaves mingle with the dark- 

 green foliage of its supports, and the abundant flower clusters 

 hang from the crown of the latter in March and April, the sight is 

 peculiar and often very beautiful. With us this plant blossoms 

 often for the second time in late summer, but less abundantly than 

 in spring. 



The Latin name indicates that the Glycine had its origin in 

 China. It is an old and very popular plant in Japan, however, as 

 has been said before, but grows wild also very extensively in the 

 deciduous forests of the mountains. In order to display its long 

 cylindrical flower clusters to better advantage in Japan, it is trained 

 horizontally along arbours. As has been remarked on p. 226, 

 some ten years since there was a specimen at Nakanobu in the 

 vicinity of Tokio which was said to be 250 years old. Its low 

 powerful and rugged trunk measured 2*45 m. in circumference 

 before branching. The branches reached out 2\ m. over a large 

 court, and when the many hundreds of long, drooping flower 

 clusters appeared, it drew many spectators from the capital. 



A specimen of Wistaria planted in 1845 against a house- wall in 

 Versailles, shows the rapid growth of the plant in Europe. Ac- 

 cording to the Revue Horticole of 1878, it had then, after 33 years, 

 reached a circumference of 1*20 m. and formed branches 75 m. 

 long. Wittmack^ mentions another Glycine* at the Villa Giula on 

 Lake Como, which had a trunk-diameter of 35 cm. (circumference 

 i*io m.), and covered with its branches a wall-surface of 40 m. 

 length to the top of the house. 



Paulownia imperialis, S. and Z. (/*. tome7ttosa, Ascherson), Jap. 

 Kiri. This notable tree, which is cultivated so largely (see p. 245) 

 and so greatly prized in Japan on account of its light wood, is also 

 found very frequently in gardens and public parks in the warm 

 parts of Europe. Its large fragrant blue flowers appear in May 

 before the leaves, and resemble in form those of the " lion's mouth." 

 One of its peculiarities is that toward the end of summer it forms 

 the flower buds of the next season on the end of its branches. 

 In England, these buds die during the winter, and the flowers are 



1 Wittmack; "Die Garten Oberitaliens." Berlin, 1883. 



