122 MARSACFIUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The tendency has been too much in favor of maples and other stiff 

 upright growing trees, and too few climbing plants have been 

 used. The w(jo(lbine or Virginia creeper is beyond question the 

 most beautiful of all vines ; he was not ashamed of it in contrast 

 with the English Ivy, though the latter is evergreen. When in 

 England he visited tiie ruins of Kenilworth Castle, part of which 

 is covered with English ivy and part with woodbine, and he 

 thought the latter tlie more beautiful and graceful of the two. 

 The Jai)an Ivy {Ampelopsis Veitchii) is far less graceful, but it 

 clings to walls much more strongly than the woodl)ine, and so has 

 its place for covering buildings of brick or stone. Many climbing 

 shrubs can be trained like weeping trees, with straight stems, 

 drooping from the top. There is a variety of VUis rijmria which 

 ought to have more prominence than it has yet had, for the beauty 

 of its foliage ; which excels that of any other grape vine, being 

 very deeply cut. 



AVilliaui J. Stewart said that while walking with Jackson Daw- 

 son in the Middlesex Fells they saw a wild grape vine with a very 

 deeply cut leaf wliich they thought highly ornamental and well 

 worthy of cultivation ; probabl}^ this was the same as the one men- 

 tioned by Mr. Strong. 



Mr. Barker said that a gentleman had suggested this grape to 

 him as a covering for old trees, but he omitted it hoping that the 

 gentleman would be present to speak of it. 



Henry Ross was next called on and said that the best of all the 

 honeysuckles is the Lonicera Halleana, which flowers freely, is 

 very fragrant, and the foliage is almost evergreen. Bignonici 

 atropurpurea is superior to B. radicans ; it is perfectly hardy. 

 He admires the Ampelopsis qninquefoUa above all other vines for 

 its grace, beauty, and hardiness, but it will not cling to walls like 

 A. Vtilchii. On a wooden house it is much preferable to the lat- 

 ter or to other clinging vines like the Bignonia or English Ivy, 

 but it must be provided with a trellis. For stone or brick walls 

 A. Veitchii is better, but it must have protection until it gets es- 

 tablished, and even then large patches will sometimes die. It 

 likes a somewhat shady place. There is a house in Newton covered 

 with the Virginia creeper wliicli hangs down live or six feet, and 

 waves most gracefully in the wind. A new species of Ampelopsis, 

 A. Eixjclmainii, has been introduced, which resembles the Vir- 

 ginia creei)er in habit, but clings to walls almost as closely as 



