JLinpolopsis Voitohii, 
OH 
BOSTON, or JAPANESE IVY. 
,,OnE of the finest things among new CHmbers. Leaves much smaller 
than the common Virginia Creeper, and as they overlap one another they form a 
dense sheet of glossy green, which turns to a brilliant crimson in Autumn. 
It grows very rapidly, and its peculiarity is that it CLINGS TO ANY SUR- 
FACE WITHOUT SUPPORT — either brick, stone or wood can be perfectly 
covered by it in a short time. 
UNSIGHTLY BUILDINGS MADE A CHANGING PICTURE OF 
BEAUTIFUL GREEN. 
Fronn the New York Evening Post. 
" The criticism is sometimes made that the Ampelopsis or Japanese Ivy is a detriment to the house ovef 
which it climbs. This is disputed by authorities, who say that on the contrary it is of actual value to the build. 
Ine and adds to its healthfulness, because it attracts moisture which would otherwise be absorbed by the brick 
or stone to wiiich it clings. As it requires practically no care after it is once started, the question arises why 
it would not be possible to transform with it some ot the ugly business buildings in the city. Over In Brooklyn, 
the courtyard of a bank is covered with a velvet turf. The yard is shut in on one side by the solid brick wall of 
the next building, which is of a common, ugly architecture. This blank wall was first painted white, but its 
glare was unpleasant to the bank people, who had to look out at it, and a few years ago ivy was planted at its 
base To-day it is a changing picture ot beautiful green, from the tendertint of the fir.st awakened shoots iu 
early April to the glossy richness of the dark shade of late autumn. On a hreezy day, the fluttering of its 
leaves shows rhythmic waves of verdure ; the sunlight glances through it in artistic silhouette , the rain plays 
UDOn it brightening and freshening it, and working out odd designs. There is no moment of any day that this 
ereat green screen is not off ering some attraction to the eyes lifted from rows of figures. Many of the factory 
buildings along the water-front might well take on such easily acquired beauty, and make their bare wall, 
spaces a charm instead of an eyesore to all beholders." 
From the Rural New Yorker, June 3d, 1899. 
" How the Japan species came to be called the Boston ivy is because the Bostonians were the first to appro, 
ciate its value for covering brick and stone houses. It is, probably, employed more in Boston than in any 
other American city though New York, in its uptown residential quarters, is not far behind. We believe ft 
was first imported from Japan by the Veitches, of England, about 1868, and in 1870 it was catalogued in. this 
country We feel that we are quite safe in saying that there is no other vine that will so completely change 
the appearance of walls, dead trees, fences, rocks or woodwork, etc., from forbidding objects to objects of rare 
beauty as the Boston ivy, or effect the change in so short a time, fdr its growth is of surprising rapidity. Our 
native Virginia creeper is inferior to the Boston creeper in that the leaves of the latter overlap one another like 
the shingles of a roof, forming a mass of rich, lustrous green leaves that help to shed the rain which would 
otherwise penetrate the bricks, stones or wood, and cause more or less dampness. It clings with great tenacity 
by its foot-like tendrils, so that neither wind nor storm ever detaches it from the object to which it has become 
attached. The spread of this vine, from a single root, is almost incredible, covering iu one case that the writer 
has in mind, no less than 3,000 square feet. ^ . , ^ . „ , • 
This plant covers the entire side wall of a brick house in upper New York, where the area in which it 
crows as well asthe sidewalk and street, are entirely covered with flags and asphalt. The "opening" in 
which'it is planted is only one foot in diameter. Whence come the moisture and food to support this breadth 
of leaves stems and tendrils? Perhaps like aerial orchid.s, the Boston ivy has the power of living upon the 
air of the many merits of this vine, not the least is that it rarely dies cr, from any cause, is killed out in 
patches Insects do not harm it. When growing over the front of houses, the ivy is cut out to conform to the 
window'ssothat, otherwise, the house-front seems a living mass of delicate, glo-ssy, exuberant, refreshing 
In*the Fall, no other vine, tree or shrub whatever, changes to more glowinf contraslf of crimso- orange, 
yellow and green, 
' GROWN AND FOR SALE BY 
