HARDY CLIMBING SHRUBS 71 



side and in autumn they change to scarlet and crim- 

 son. It is the most vigorous of Hardy Vines and 

 in the moist forests of northern Japan climbs to the 

 tops of trees sixty feet and more tall, and in the thick- 

 ets, glades, and on the margins of woods and swamps, 

 makes an impenetrable jungle. The fruit is jet 

 black, globose and edible and the plant is one to 

 which breeders of new fruits might well turn their 

 attention. This climber is very common in the 

 colder parts of Japan and I shall long remember its 

 exuberant growth and vivid autumn coloring as I 

 saw it around Lake Towada in early October, 1914. 

 Another equally hardy species but less vigorous 

 and with smaller leaves is V. amurensis from eastern 

 Siberia. From China, western gardens have recently 

 received a number of new and ornamental species 

 of Vitis and in England they have become very popu- 

 lar. Unfortunately they have not proved quite 

 hardy in this country as far north as Boston, Mass. 

 but there is ample room to the south on this Atlantic 

 seaboard not to mention the Pacific slope. Perhaps 

 the most beautiful of these newcomers is V. Davidii 

 (more usually called V. armata) and its variety 

 cyanocarpa (better known as Veitchii), which have 

 prickly shoots and large glossy metallic green, heart- 

 shaped pointed leaves pale on the underside and 



