Clje fembiim 



VOL. IV.] JULY, 1881. [No. 7. 



THE WISTARIA. 



This is one of the beautiful twining shrubs which has been brought 

 out of nature's wilds, and which, planted in our gardens and about 

 our dwellings, has taken kindly to its new surroundings. It is found 

 both in Asia and America, in temperate latitudes. The American 

 species, Wistaria frutescens, is found in moist soils in the Virginias, 

 Carolinas and Southern Illinois. The Asiatic is found in China and 

 Japan, and is known as the Wistaria Sinensis. The American species 

 blooms from July to September ; the flowers are pea-shape, borne in 

 terminal racemes, of a bluish-purple color, and pleasantly scented. 

 The Asiatic was brought from China to England in 1816, and from 

 England to America. It climbs very rapidly, and will soon cover a 

 very large space. Mr. Fortune mentions a famous patriarch which 

 he saw in Japan. The trunk measured seven feet in circumference 

 at three feet from the ground, and the branches covered a trellis sixty 

 by a hundred feet. Many thousands of its long racemes of purplish 

 flowers were hanging in graceful profusion from its branches, giving 

 to the plant a most brilliant appearance. One of the racemes which 

 he measured was three feet and a half in length. 



There is an old hemlock tree at " Cottage Place," Germantown, 

 Philadelphia, Penn., eighty feet in height, which is covered with a 

 couple of Chinese Wistarias, the stems of which are about two feet in 

 circumference. 



It grows well in some parts of Ontario, and doubtless will in all 

 parts where the peach can be successfully cultivated. There is a fine 

 specimen that adorns the verandah in front of the residence of one of 

 the members of the Fruit Growers' Association in St. Catharines, Mr. 

 James Taylor's, which is a most beautiful object when laden with 

 bloom. How far to the northward its successful cultivation can be 

 carried will only be ascertained by actual trial. We look with interest 



