VINE HEDGES 



By Willard N. Clute. 



TT is usual to make hedges of a variety of shrubs adapted to 

 this purpose ranging from the thorny species like the honey 

 locust, osage orange and barberry to such defenceless forms 

 as the box and privet, but in cases where a support can be pro- 

 vided, excellent hedges and screens may be produced by the use 

 of several of our common vines. Probably the best vine for 

 this purpose is the woodbine {Ampelopsis quinquefolia) . It 

 is absolutely hardy, grows wild in almost any piece of wood- 

 land, and usually may be had for the digging. A few plants 

 will soon make an impervious screen as our illustration shows. 



An equally serviceable screen or hedge may be made by 

 any of our native wild grapes. A single plant, w^hen well estab- 

 lished, will cover from one hundred to two hundred feet of 

 trellis ; in fact the only fault of this plant is that it often grows 

 with such luxuriance that it has to be cut back to keep it within 

 bounds. 



The woodbine and the grape belong to the same plant fam- 

 ily and both usually climb by means of coiling tendrils. The 

 woodbine, however, like its relative, the so-called Boston ivy 

 {Ampelopsis &ic iispidafa\) ,oittn has its branching tendrils 

 tipped with adhesive disks which are able to cling to any sup- 

 port with great tenacity. In our common species, aerial roots 

 are often produced, giving the plant still another method of 

 rising above the earth. The woodbine apparently more fre- 

 cjuently has adhesive discs in the western part of its range but 



