SPRING-FLOWERING HARDY VINES 99 
themselves to the forcing of cut branches. Take 
a branch or twig at any time during winter, place 
it in water in a warm temperature, and in from 
ten to thirty days, according tothe kind of plant 
and the time of year, it will be a mass of bloom. 
The later in the season it is cut, the less time it 
will take to bring it into flower. 
What this group lacks in numbers, its prize 
members make up in rich, regal magnificence. 
Here we find what is undoubtedly the most 
beautiful, the most valuable, and the most popu- 
lar of woody vines, the wistaria. The one com- 
mon species (W. Chinensis), is so far ahead of 
its brothers that, while it remained, even though 
all others were obliterated, our gardens would not 
suffer appreciably. It has in its makeup prac- 
tically everything that the plant-lover asks, 
and its beautiful racemes of mauve, pea-like 
flowers are assuredly the most welcome in the 
spring. They greet us at a time when the earth 
is just beginning to become gay once more, and 
they herald their appearance with a burst of 
delicate fragrance. This is essentially the vine 
for the amateur, for it can be handled with impu- 
nity, and, in fact, dislikes “nursing.” It will 
even give satisfaction as a seashore plant, not 
seeming to mind extreme changes of weather. 
