76 YARD AND GARDEN 



that varies in its form and cliarm with every 

 vagrant breeze of a summer's day. Trained 

 over arches, gates, or pergolas, they shed a 

 grateful shade and afford some shelter from 

 sudden showers. 



EFFECTIVENESS OF VINES 



Much of the picturesqueness of the old ruins 

 of Euroi)ean castles owes its existence to the 

 kindly offices of the vines .urown to their walls. 

 They mellow the defects and impart an at- 

 mosphere of age and permanency, and always 

 the dense green of their foliage is a relief to 

 the eyes in summer and soothing to tired and 

 discordant nerves. They will grow very fre- 

 quently where other plants will not thrive and, 

 once gaining a foothold, they may thrust their 

 stems even to the highest point of a brick wall 

 of some city office building. Here, clinging to 

 the masonry, they weather every storm, resist 

 the burning rays of the sun and transform the 

 building as neither carpenter nor painter can 

 do. Whether they are grown on the walls and 

 terraces of the mansion or on the limited 

 grounds of the cottage they never fail to pro- 

 duce an effective picture. INIoreover, with their 

 dense green foliage as a background, the artis- 



