THE VINE FOR ITS FORM, 



169 



THE VINE FOR ITS FORM. 



If it is only in the warm southern valleys 

 that we may hope to fruit the Chasselas or 

 any of the earlier Vines, all may enjoy its fine 

 leaves and habit for covering vacant spaces on 

 walls, since for wreathing up and over trees, 

 festooning pillars, or covering pergolas, few 

 plants can equal the Grape Vine. The form 

 of its leaves from first to last is beautiful, their 

 colours often fine. Who shall 

 describe the soft, woolly ten- 

 derness of the young Vine 

 leaf bursting from its nest in 

 the nut-brown bud ? During 

 its life it is painted by turns 

 with varied tints of green, 

 and then, when the change 

 comes over it in the autumn 

 how beautiful are the hues 

 either of the European, Ja- 

 panese, or American Vines. 

 Some Vine leaves put on a 

 russet colour before they die; 

 but others, such as the Bar- 

 barossa, the West's St. Peter's, 

 and the purplish-leavedVines 

 of France, of which there are 

 several (one known among us 

 as the Claret Vine), all show 

 fine colour in autumn. The 

 variety in form and size of 

 leaf is just as marked. From 

 the wide expanse of a White 

 Nice, measuring a foot and 

 a half across, or Thunberg's 

 Vine a size smaller, we come 

 down to the Parsley-leaved 

 and variegated forms of our 

 gardens. No plant is better 

 suited for scrambling over 

 sunny rocks, clothing un- 

 couth tree-stumps or out- 

 buildings than theVine. Its freedom of growth, 

 the curious beauty and strong grasping power 

 of its tendrils, its grace, its associations, are all 

 points in its favour. Neither is it needful 

 that the Vine should climb like a giant to be- 

 come a source of interest in gardens. Some 

 of the American wild Vines are more gor- 

 geous in colouring and varied in forms than 



our cultivated sorts, showing in autumn every 

 tint from green to gold, orange, and crimson. 

 Another rare charm of the Vine lies in the 

 sweetness of its blossoms, which not even the 

 Violet, Sweet Briar, or Lime can surpass. 

 Though, as a whole, our country is unsuitable to 

 the Grape Vine, there are parts of the Thames 

 Valley and southern- counties in which far 



WILD GRAPE VINES IN THE SAN JOAC^UIN VALLEY 



more might be done in this direction, wher- 

 ever the protection of a warm wall is to be 

 had. Trial of selected early varieties would 

 soon show which gave the best results, we 

 therefore add a descriptive note of the best of 

 these earlykinds, particularly those succeeding 

 in the colder parts of France. They have many 

 local names, but we give those best known. 



