534 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



they are West Antillean and not found in our flora; 

 so they do not appeal to us in the way that some of our 

 own vines do as, for instance, that grand aerial climber, 

 the trumpet-vine or trumpet-creeper of the South (Fig. 

 3). This splendid vine has long been introduced into 

 the North, where it is much in demand to run up over 

 porches, arbor-screens, and similar structures of the 

 home. The flowers are of brilliant orange and scarlet, 

 so that a bunch of them may be recognized at quite a 

 distance, especially when the bunches, as is usually the 

 case, hang in front of the dark leaves of the vine, which 

 latter are pointed, toothed, and of ovate outline. As 



their cars. Dogwood and many other lovely wild flowers 

 suffer in a similar way. 



There is a great number of fairly well-known vines 

 growing wild in the eastern part of this country besides 

 the few already mentioned : among them we may name 

 the i)oison ivy, the Virginia creeper, the wild morning 

 glory or bindweed, the curious leather-vine, the deadly 

 nightshade, dodder, clematis, honeysuckle, and others. 

 Then, under cultivation we find the hop-vine, clematis, 

 coral honeysuckle, various peas and beans, moon-vine, 

 rambling roses, gourds of different species and many 

 garden vines, as pumpkin, squash and cucumber. In- 



WHAT A FEW KUDZU VINES CAN ACCOMPLISH 



Fig. 4 Three Kudzu vines covering an area of about an acre and a quarter. This vine is about three years old, and started 

 from only three roots planted in the rear of the building. Note how it has run over the latter and over the trees to the 

 left in the picture. Photograph by the author. 



will be noted from the figure, the flowers are funnel- 

 shaped, reminding one of little red trumpets hence 

 their name. The aerial rootlets by means of which this 

 vine climbs, hold on with great tenacity to whatever they 

 take to; while the flowers, when fully open, readily fall 

 ofif their stems, rendering them unsatisfactory to carry 

 home and use for photographic purposes. (Fig. 3.) As 

 a rule, automobilists are ignorant of this fact, and the 

 consequence is that many a bunch of trumpet flowers are 

 to be seen lying by the wayside in midsummer, having 

 been picked by these people for no other reason than 

 temporary gratification, and to attract the attention of 

 other automobilists as they shoot past each other in 



deed, taking the combined list, the species would run up 

 into the hundreds. Not a few of those now regularly 

 cultivated are also found growing wild, as Virginia 

 creeper and trumpet-vine; while, as we may readily 

 surmise, all of the cultivated species have been derived 

 from those still found wild in the flora of one country 

 01 another either here or in the Old World. 



As vines and creepers were bred from wild ones and 

 passed through various stages of cultivation, such as 

 modification of form and flower and other matters, the 

 cultivator ever had it in mind to improve the plant to 

 meet the end he had in view. For instance, the hop- 

 vine was cultivated in such a way as to yield more and 



