116 MASSACHUSETTS llOHTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



very useful plants, and their growth being rapid and tlieir flower- 

 ing qualities so free are recommendations which should give them 

 a place wherever room can be found. 



Physianthus albens is one of the very best quick-growing climb- 

 ers. I remember seeing this plant at the late Mrs. Ward's in 

 Canton several years ago. It was in view as you entered the gar- 

 den, and was trained to a fence, covering a space of from four to 

 six jards square. P^very joint was furnished with a raceme of pure 

 white flowers. I have not seen this plant except in flower ; but 

 the large seed vessels are descrilied as quite ornamental, and when 

 ripe bursting and exposing a handful of cottony fibre to which the 

 seeds are attached. 



Lophospermum atrosavgnineum, L. scandens, and L. erubescens 

 are all very beautiful, and will grow ten or twelve feet in a season. 



Jpomoias are so well known to all that you need only to hear 

 the name to be reminded of tlie ease with which you can grow 

 them. Have you a veranda that you can train them against? If 

 so, prepare the soil, stretch your strings, and sow them, and when 

 grown they will greet you each morning with their prett}' open 

 flowers. 



Ipomoea noctijlora is a climber of very rapid growth ; it has 

 grown twentj' or more feet in a single season. The flowers are 

 pure white, four or five inches in diameter, and as they expand at 

 night have a striking efifect. It is also called Evening Glory or 

 Moon Flower. I know of no climber more useful than this. 



I will only add the Cypress Vine {QaamodU vulgaris) and 

 Canary-bird flower ( Tropceolum x)eregrinum) to those 1 have already 

 mentioned. But before leaving the climbing annuals let me remind 

 you that they are not appreciated as they should be. They are 

 well adapted for setting around arbors, or training over fences. 

 Strings may be fastened to the top of the fence or building and 

 stretched to pegs driven into the ground ; on these strings they 

 will twine in the most graceful manner, and the profusion of their 

 flowers will amply repa}' the attention you may give them. 



I think it probable that the large majority of cultivators will be 

 more interested in the hardy climbing plants than in those already 

 mentioned, as of course more can have them ; and 1 must acknowl- 

 edge that of late my own taste has inclined very much in this 

 direction. The force of circumstances perhaps contributed as 

 nnich as anything else towards inducing me to use them — my last 



