55 
one of the handsomest of the northern species, for the leaves, which 
vary in size and lobing on different individuals, are thick, dark green 
and lustrous above and covered on the lower surface with tawny white, 
tan-colored or red-brown felt which is also found on the young stems 
and branches. Several forms of this vine are in the Arboretum collec- 
tion. The summer Grape of the northern and central states, Vitis bi- 
color, is an even handsomer plant, and perhaps the handsomest of our 
northern Grape Vines. The large leaves are usually deeply lobed, and 
dark green above are pale blue-green below. These are only a few of 
the American Grape Vines in the collection. The large-fruited Musca- 
dine or Southern Fox Grape, Vitis rotundifolia of the southern states, 
has not yet proved hardy in the Arboretum. From this species, after 
V. labrusca the most important pomologically of the American Grape 
Vines, has been produced the Scuppernong grapes, favorites in the 
southern states. 
To J apan we are indebted for Vitis Coignetiae, the handsomest Grape 
Vine which can be grown in the northern states. No other species is 
more hardy, grows so vigorously, or produces such large leaves which 
are thick, prominently veined and pale on the lower surface; they turn 
bright red in the autumn, and as this is a northern species their fading 
colors are more brilliant in northern New England than they are in 
Massachusetts. The small blue fruit which is eaten in Hokkaido has 
little to recommend it to the American palate. Vitis amurensis from 
eastern Siberia, Mongolia and Korea is an old inhabitant of the Arbor- 
etum. It is a handsome and perfectly hardy plant, but not superior as 
a garden plant to several of the American species. The Japanese Vitis 
pulchra is distinct in the dark red color of the leaves and shoots in 
spring, and is a handsome and interesting plant. This Vine is known 
only from cultivated plants, and only the male plant is in the Arbore- 
tum collection. 
The Chinese Vitis Davidii is interesting to the students of these plants 
for, unlike those of other Grape Vines, the stems are covered with 
sharp spines. The leaves turn bright red in the autumn. Unfortunately 
the stems are killed down to the ground by the cold of our severest 
winters, and this remarkable plant rarely produces fruit in this climate. 
Equally interesting, perhaps, is another Chinese species, Vitis Pagnuccii, 
with some leaves which are scarcely or not at all lobed and with others 
*on the same branch which are deeply and variously lobed much like 
those of the Virginia Creeper. Wilson discovered a number of hand- 
some Grape Vines in western China and most of them have been raised 
in the Arboretum. Not many of these new species have been really 
hardy here, and it does not now appear probable that any of them will 
prove good garden plants in this climate. 
Excellent white and purple grapes, varieties of the European Vitis 
vinifera, are grown in northern China for the Peking market on the 
descendants of plants brought centuries ago by the overland route proba- 
bly from Persia or Asia Minor. In Peking the plants are laid down and 
covered with earth during the winter, and produce large crops of fruit 
which the Chinese are able to keep until spring in cool cellars. This 
Grape has been growing in the Arboretum for sixteen years with only 
slight winter protection, and the green-fruited variety has produced fruit 
