AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
HARDY ORNAMENTAL VINES. 
We have recently referred to the desira¬ 
bleness of planting shrubbery, and various 
other flowering plants around the farm¬ 
house and all country dwellings. But we 
have not spoken with that particularity and 
emphasis which we desire respecting climb¬ 
ing plants. No building—unless it be a 
bank, post-office, store, or some structure of 
the kind, devoted exclusively to business— 
is complete without these leafy adornments. 
It is with human dwellings as with human 
character : they should exhibit a graceful¬ 
ness and beauty, as well as strength and ri¬ 
gid propriety. A man who is always very 
proper in his ways, and as systematic as the 
multiplication table, may make a very good 
statue, but he is not a complete man un¬ 
less he has some of the juices of humanity, 
is winning, graceful, loveable. So with a 
house : it is not enough that it is firmly 
built, of ample size, and kept in good re¬ 
pair ; it needs the surroundings of trees and 
lawns, of birds and flowers, and clambering 
vines. Then it becomes home-like, and 
wins our hearts. Moreover, there are few 
houses so perfect in proportion and finish as 
not to require the slight concealments and 
embellishment afforded by vines. A Trum¬ 
pet Creeper, shooting up to the second story 
window, and hanging its tubular flowers 
about the gable, will atone for many an 
oversight in the plan of the dwelling. A 
Chinese Wistaria rambling over the sides of 
a house, or suspending its clusters of pearly- 
lilac blossoms over the doorway, does much 
towards supplying the absence of stucco and 
elaborately carved verandas. A climbing 
rose swaying about an open window in 
Summer, and wafting its fragrance through 
all the dwelling—as does a “ Baltimore 
Belle” at the window where we now write— 
what can be more charming 1 
Happily for us, the list of hardy orna¬ 
mental vines is so large that every taste 
can be suited. Among the best plants, we 
mention the following : 
American Ivy. —This is sometimes called 
Virginia Creeper, and, by the botanists, Am- 
pelopsis, but we prefer the simple name, 
American Ivy, because the plant is indige¬ 
nous in nearly every part of this country, 
and resembles the ivy of Europe in many 
respects. It has but an indifferent flower, 
but it is perfectly hardy, grows rapidly in 
any soil or situation, is not infested with 
insects, has a dhrk green, glossy foliage 
throughout the entire Summer, which in 
Autumn fades off 1 into a most brilliant crim¬ 
son. Mr. Downing says : “ It will grow 
anywhere in the coldest situations, and only 
asks to be planted to work out its own prob¬ 
lem of beauty without further attention.” 
We would recommend this as the best vine 
to plant by the side of churches in the 
Northern States, especially those built of 
stone or brick. In a short time, it will 
cling to the wall, and clothe its surface with 
a beauty equal to any carving in stone. 
Chinese Wistaria. —We rank this second 
to the one just named, because it is less 
hardy. North of the latitude of Albany, it 
is frequently injured by the Winter : south 
of that, it must stand as the peer among 
ornamental vines. It grows luxuriantly, and 
has beautiful pale purple blossoms, which 
appear in April and May. The flowers hang 
in clusters like those of the locust, only 
much larger. In some seasons the vine 
flowers a second time. Amateurs some¬ 
times plant it by the side of a pole on the 
open lawn, and by frequent pruning for 
several years, give it the habit of a weeping 
tree. 
The Honeysuckles. —Of these there are 
several varieties, possessing various excel¬ 
lencies. Where the climate will permit its 
cultivation, nothing can be finer than the 
Japan or Chinese Twining, but for north¬ 
ern gardens, it is too tender. The best 
plants of this family, all things considered, 
are the Scarlet and Yellow Trumpet Honey¬ 
suckles. They are hardy, are not infested 
with insects, grow fast, and bloom all Sum¬ 
mer. 
Prairie Roses. —A few years ago, we 
ranked these rather higher than we now do. 
Their luxuriant growth and prodigality of 
flowers are certainly in their favor. But 
that luxuriant growth is often killed to the 
ground in Winter, and at best, the season of 
flowers is only a short one. Added to this, 
the vines are annually infested with in¬ 
sects which destroy their beauty, unless 
warred against. If one will take the pains 
to lay down his vines on the ground every 
Fall, in cold latitudes, and to syringe them 
with whale oil soap diluted with water 
every Summer, the Prairie Rose will de¬ 
servedly stand high on his list of vines. 
This has been our own practice for several 
years, and in our view, it pays well: but 
most people will not take this trouble, and 
for them, therefore, we do not highly recom¬ 
mend these vines. To those who will take 
care of them, we say, plant Queen of the 
Prairies, Baltimore Belle (desirable for its 
Tea Rose odor), Eva Corinne, Mrs. Hovey, 
and Pride of Washington. 
Dutchman’s Pipe—(Aristolochia sipho) call¬ 
ed also Birthwort, and Pipe Vine. A bold and 
striking vine, suitable for rambling over a 
rustic arbor or cedar pole. Its huge round 
leaves hanging one over the other, com¬ 
pletely exclude the rays of the sun. Its 
flowers are more odd than beautiful, resem¬ 
bling a Dutchman’s pipe more than any¬ 
thing else. 
The Grape Vine. —We should have men¬ 
tioned this earlier in our series, had we not 
regarded it as belonging more appropriately 
to the fruit garden or to the sunny sides of 
houses, barns, sheds, &c., where it can be 
pruned and trained solely for its fruit. If 
used for ornament, and allowed to ramble at 
its own sweet will, we think the grape vine 
very beautiful. And if any one of our read¬ 
ers is so practical as to discard from his 
dwelling all embellishment that is not 
strictly useful, we would certainly humor 
his prejudices so much as to advise him to 
plant grape vines by the side of his front 
porch. 
These, though not all, are undoubtedly 
the best hardy ornamental vines. Some 
persons will hardly pardon us for omitting 
the Trumpet Creeper, and the variety with 
larger and cup-shaped blossoms; but with 
all our admiration for it, we must leave it 
out of our list of hardy vines. The Clema¬ 
tis of several sorts—not forgetting the 
sweet-scented Flammula —has great merits ; 
and many of the Noisette and other roses 
are very desirable in softer climates; but 
for the North, and for those who want vines 
that will generally take care of themselves, 
our catalogue could not well be much en¬ 
larged. The plants we have mentioned are 
beautiful and varied enough to invest our 
northern homes with great attractions. 
PRESERVATION OF GRAPES FRESH. 
For a long time it was a cause of lamen¬ 
tation among fruit-growers and housekeep¬ 
ers, that the abundant and delicious fruits of 
Summer and Autumn could be enjoyed only 
for a very short period. But ingenuity at 
length contrived, and nearly perpetuated, a 
plan by which most of these fruits might be 
kept in their original state for a great length 
of time. Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, 
peaches, tomatoes, pears and the like, are 
now preserved annually in large quantities, 
in sealed jars and cans, in as fine a state al¬ 
most, as when first gathered. Grapes, we 
presume, might be kept in the same way; 
but it would be somewhat expensive to pro¬ 
vide jars enough for the product of a single 
thrifty vine. Several other methods have 
been tried, with more or less success ; but. 
so far as we can learn, a perfectly satisfac¬ 
tory mode has not yet been hit upon. It is 
in the hope of helping forward to such a re¬ 
sult, that we now write. The subject is one 
about which the fruit-raising and the fruit¬ 
eating public have much to learn. 
In the preservation of fruit, certain gen¬ 
eral principles must be taken into ac¬ 
count. It is the natural tendency of all 
fruit to commence the process of decay soon 
after it has arrived at full maturity. With 
some, this deterioration is much more rap¬ 
id than with others. Decomposition,is hast¬ 
ened by the action of frost, heat, light, 
moisture, by sudden changes from heat to 
cold, by bruises, and by currents of air. Of 
course, then, to retard that decomposition, 
we must withdraw, as far as possible, these 
causes of decay. 
Of the methods adopted to preserve 
grapes, in accordance with these principles, 
we record the following : 
1. The grapes are suffered to become just 
fairly ripe, and no more, before gathering. 
They are cut , not pulled, from the vines, in 
the middle of a dry, windy day, from about 
11 o’clock in the forenoon to 3 P. M. They 
are carried in shallow baskets, and spread 
upon sheets on the floor of a cool, north 
chamber. The first leisure day is then ta¬ 
ken for packing. First, however, all mil¬ 
dewed, rotton or unripe grapes must be care¬ 
fully culled out and thrown away. The 
clusters may then be taken to an ice-house 
and laid in single layers, on shelves made of 
thin, narrow strips of pine, like slender lat¬ 
tices. Here they will not freeze, but will be 
