VINES AND CREEPERS. 
599 
healthiness of different varieties which bear good fruit. The 
Clinton and the Concord are probably the most healthy and pro- 
ductive vines in the northern States when left to grow naturally ; 
and their fruit, though not of the best for table use, makes a fine 
wine when carefully made and kept long enough. The Isabella, 
Catawba, Diana, Delaware, and a host of newer sorts, all do well 
in the middle States, but require more care than the two first 
named. In the southern States other varieties are more esteemed. 
We believe that all our native vines are usually trimmed too much, 
and their healthfulness impaired by it ; and that if their roots have 
a deep dry soil their tops may be allowed to cover a great space. 
The Periploca. Periploca grceca . — A shrub from France, also 
known as the Virginia silk-vine, which is a vigorous twining vine, 
with large clean-cut, glossy, wavy leaves. The flowers are small, 
of a rich velvety brown j in July and August. Their odor is said 
to be unwholesome to those long exposed to it, and the vine should 
not therefore be planted on porches or near to windows. 
Climbing Roses. — See roses in Chapter V, Part II. 
The Periwinkle, or Running Myrtle. Vinca.— ^ A trailing 
evergreen that covers the ground rapidly, and is adapted to make a 
deep mat of verdure in shady places under trees where grass will 
not grow. It bears blue flowers which appear constantly from 
March to September. 
The Wistaria. Glycine. Wistaria . — Twining vines of great 
vigor, indigenous in our country, and in Asia; with compound 
pinnate leaves, and long racemes of blue or lilac flowers. 
The American, or Shrubby Wistaria. W. ( G.) frntesce?is . — 
A free-grower, indigenous in the middle and southern States. Leaves 
composed of nine to thirteen leaflets. Flowers bluish-purple in 
shouldered racemes about six inches long, and borne from July to 
September. 
The Chinese Wistaria. W. ( G.) sinensis. — This most 
vigorous of twining vines was introduced from China to England in 
