AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
419 
1868.] 
of the South, ■which is botanically the Vitis ml- 
pina of Linnteus, and has also been called V. 
rotundifolia by later authors. The bark does 
not separate as in other species; the leaves are 
The Virgin’s Bower. 
After the leaves have fallen there ■will often 
be seen in thickets and among the bushes along 
the roadsides large tufts 
which look like wool. These, 
upon examination, will be 
found attached to a vine, 
which is our most common 
species of Clematis , {C. Vir- 
giniana). This vine, being a 
native, is not often seen in 
cultivation, but it has merits 
which give it a claim to a 
place in the garden. The 
leaves are three-parted, and 
like other climbing species 
of Clematis, twist their stalks 
around other objects and 
thus serve as tendrils to sup¬ 
port the plant. The vine is 
valuable for its late bloom¬ 
ing; the flowers, which ap¬ 
pear in July and August, are 
white, and borne in clusters. 
The plant is a free floweret*, 
but some specimens are more 
showy than others, from the 
fact that it is sometimes di¬ 
oecious, and the pistillate 
flowers make less display 
than those which bear sta¬ 
mens. Not only is the plant 
pleasing in flower, but it is 
quite striking in fruit, on ac¬ 
count ot the woolly tufts 
before spoken of. These 
tufts are made up of the 
long, hairy tails to the small, 
seed-like fruits. The engrav¬ 
ing gives a small tuft of this 
woolly fruit, and at one side 
a few of the fruits separate. 
The leaf and flower are also 
shown. Besides the fanciful name of Virgin’s 
Bower, it is sometimes called Traveler’s Joy. 
It is readily transplanted from its native lo¬ 
calities. The European Sweet Virgin’s 
Bower, Clematis Flammula , has much 
the habit of our species; the foliage is 
more delicate, and the flowers delight¬ 
fully fragrant. Three other native spe¬ 
cies of Clematis are found southward 
and westward, having larger flowers, 
which are not in clusters, but solitary, 
and one, G. Verticillaris (formerly Atra- 
gene ), is one of the rarer plants of the 
northernmost States. None of these, 
however, equal in beauty the elegant 
species and varieties with which Japan 
and China have enriched our collections. 
Some of these have flowers six inches 
across, which present various shades 
of color from white to the richest purple. 
Great improvement has been made of 
late by crossing and hybridizing the 
Clematis, and each year some new and 
attractive varieties are brought out. 
The Scuppernong Grape. 
Of late, almost every Southern agri¬ 
cultural journal has strongly advocated 
the cultivation of the Scuppernong 
grape, and it is claimed that the manufac¬ 
ture of its wine is to become an impor¬ 
tant branch of industry in those States 
in which the climate admits of its growth. The 1 From this species are derived the Scuppernong, 
grape is a variety of the Bull, or Bullace, grape I Thomas, Flowers, Mish, and other varieties, of 
virgin’s bower —(Clematis Virginiana.) 
round heart-shaped, coarsely-toothed, both sur¬ 
faces smooth, with the lower more shining than 
the upper; berries few, large, and purple. 
which the first named is the best known and 
most cultivated. The berries of the Scupper¬ 
nong are from three-fourths of an inch to one 
inch and a fourth in diameter, and in clusters of 
from two to twenty. The 
engraving is of the natural 
size, taken from a specimen 
sent by M. T. Garrett, Hali¬ 
fax Co., N. C. The fruit 
drops from the cluster when 
ripe, and is collected by 
placing sheets on the ground, 
and shaking or beating the 
vines. Though what is call¬ 
ed a whjte grape, it is of a 
greenish yellow color, mark¬ 
ed with small brown dots. 
The skin is very thick and 
leather, containing an 
abundant, rather pleasant 
juice, with a tough pulp. It 
has been described as hav¬ 
ing a “ fine musky aroma,” 
but to our notion it is a 
marked foxiness, a little less 
disagreeable than that of the 
Northern Fox-grape. The 
vine is trained upon horizon¬ 
tal arbors, and is not short¬ 
ened in by pruning, but al¬ 
lowed to spread over a large 
space. The fruit is said to 
be produced on spurs two or 
more years old, and not, as 
is the case with other varie¬ 
ties, upon the shoots of the 
current season. The vines 
throw out numerous aerial 
roots a foot or more in 
length, which, though often 
injured by winter, are re¬ 
newed again. In vineyards 
the vines are planted 20 feet 
apart each way, or at even 
Vines ten years old are said 
to yield thirty bushels of fruit, and a single 
vine is reported as having produced two hun¬ 
dred and fifty bushels at a crop. In 
the earlier accounts of Scuppernong 
wine, sugar, and brandy, or whiskey, 
were considered important additions. 
Of late, it is claimed that a good wine 
can be made by the use of one and 
tliree-fourtlis of a pound of sugar to a 
gallon of juice, and probably when the 
matter becomes better understood a 
good article will be produced from the 
simple juice. The vine is said to flourish 
from the Potomac southward, and its 
cultivation is rapidly extending. We 
notice in the Southern papers the 
publication of a work by J. Van Buren, 
of Ga., devoted entirely to the culture 
of the Scuppernong, but it has not yet 
reached us. Not having seen the vine 
in fruit, we have condensed the above 
account, in part, from the forthcoming 
Gardening for the South, to which Mr. 
Van Buren contributed the article on 
grapes.Since the foregoing was in 
type, a gentleman who was present at 
the recent grape exhibition at Ham- 
mondsport, N. Y., informs us that the 
Scuppernong must stood lower than 
that of any other grape tested. If this 
be the case, this variety cannot rank 
among the wine grapes, as no grape 
can be placed in this class with a must so weak 
as to make the addition of sugar necessary. 
greater distances. 
