100 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-EXPERIMENT STATION 
How shall we select our vines? (We should choose those 
vines which best suit the situation.) We should first start 
with the house. Are we going to use our vines here? If so, 
then which ones and why? Is our house brick or wood? 
Which of these is the easier to manage? (The brick, as vines 
seem best fitted to the material; also not destroyed so readily. 
A wooden house is apt to look smothered and damp, especially 
when covered thickly with vines.) 
We will see what to do with the walls of our house first. 
Here we must consider two things, first, the architecture and 
second, the building material and the fitness of the vine used. 
If our house is well built and of beautiful architecture, we 
shall select a slender, decorative vine that produces a light, 
open tracery. Here we do not want to hide the house. What 
vine that we have studied is of this type? (Boston Ivy.) 
If the architecture is poor and ugly, we shall use vines to 
cover up the lines—those that make a dense screen. Give an 
example. (Virginia Creeper.) (Show by picture.) 
If our house is of wood, what should we be careful of in 
our selection? Some vines destroy wood, others are so heavy 
that they tear and break down. Who in the class knows of 
a wood-destroying vine? (English Ivy, Japanese Ivy.) The 
heavy vines are wistaria and trumpet creepers. Any other 
vines are good providing they are not grown directly on wood 
or are too heavy. Review vines studied and decide whether 
they are good. 
With brick and stone we shall select any kind that climbs 
directly or without support. Name some vines studied. Here 
we must consider color harmony. How would you like to see 
clematis, Jackmanii, on a red brick in full bloom? Green 
foliage and white flowers are really best here. In our stone 
building, also cement, the backgrounds are light and neutral, 
so colors may be strong. In these cases the vines are selected 
for pure decoration, so that we have to select vines that need 
support as none of the dingers have the beautiful flowers. 
Roses, clematis, panniculata, white wistaria are good. 
We must consider how we are going to get our vines on the 
house if they do not climb directly. Chicken wire fastened 
from the roof to the base is very good where the house is not 
very beautiful. With houses of good architecture it is best 
to put up the wooden trellis of green or the same color as 
the house. A white trellis looks well with a shingle house. 
(Show pictures.) 
