CHAPTER XLVII 



VINES 



Nothing gives a more graceful finish to the porch 

 or veranda than the vine you train up its posts and 

 along its eaves. No house is what it ought to be, 

 in the sense of the beautiful, without some vine trained 

 about its windows and up its walls to break up all 

 stiffness of outline and soften the effect of broad sur- 

 faces of painted wood. 



One of the best vines we have is, I am glad to 

 say, a native plant. I am always proud to read of 

 the popularity of the Ampelopsis abroad. It is a rapid 

 grower, has beautiful foliage at all times, and espe- 

 cially so in autumn, when it takes on its rich crimson 

 and scarlet and maroon colors, and is so hardy that 

 the severest weather fails to injure it in the least. It 

 is to America what the Ivy is to England. It is quite 

 as beautiful, in a different way. It clings to smooth 

 surfaces by means of little discs at the end of its 

 tendrils. 



Ampelopsis Veitchii comes to us from Japan. It 

 has smaller foliage than our native species and is not 

 so rampant a grower. It forms a dense mass of 

 foliage. It is a charming plant, but really not so 

 desirable as the American species. 



Akebia quinata is a Japanese vine with very pretty 

 foliage, and brownish flowers. It is a rapid grower. 



Aristolochia, or Dutchman's Pipe, is a very rapid 

 grower, perfectly hardy, with immense leaves, and 

 flowers of peculiar shape, somewhat resembling the 

 old-fashioned German pipe. Hence its common name. 



The Bignonia is one of our most desirable climb- 

 ing plants. It has beautiful foliage of a rich, bright, 



