64 



THE WISTARIA SINENSIS. 



it in every green-house and conservatory 

 throughout the country. 



In the character of a tall shrub, however, 

 or of a pole plant, for placing in the beds 

 or borders of conservatories, or as a covering 

 to any of the pillars which support the roof, 

 or even pruned into a state of dwarfness, 

 and kept in a pot, or made to trail on rustic 

 work in the centre or back of a green-house, 

 it is almost entirely unknown. To adapt it 

 for any of these forms or positions, scarce 

 any treatment is required beyond a due 

 attention to pruning. But it is absolute- 

 ly necessary that this pruning be rigid, 

 and followed up with the greatest strict- 

 ness. 



The natural habit of the plant being to 

 produce very long and comparatively weak 

 shoots, it of course commences to form 

 these from the very earliest period of its 

 growth. Indeed, as soon as a layered 

 branch has become a plant, by throwing 

 out roots from that part which is plunged 

 in the ground, and which has been partially 

 cut through to facilitate the process, it will 

 begin to develop those tenuous branches 

 which are peculiar to the species ; and, 

 where a bushy specimen is required, the 

 pruning must then be immediately started. 

 Nor will it be at all prudent to cease this 

 close pruning until the plant has been 

 reared into the desired form, when it will 

 also have acquired that tendency to bear 

 short blooming spurs, instead of stout 

 branches, which will render the subsequent 

 prunings light and trifling. 



By this kind of routine, therefore, — taking 

 care to keep the shoots cut back very closely 

 at least every year, and, in the first stages, 

 twice or thrice each season, — good shrubby 

 or pillar plants may readily be obtained for 

 the conservatory. Nor is it to be ques- 

 tioned, that both the novelty and beauty of 

 such objects would greatly contribute to 



the adornment of appropriate plant strac" 

 tures. 



But, independently of the suitableness of 

 this Wistaria for attaching to the pillars of 

 a conservatory, and for being so confined 

 by pruning as to cover them alone, without 

 extending over any other portion of the 

 building, it possesses an equally striking 

 adaptation for affixing to poles, wnether of 

 wood or iron. 



And here we cannot but digress a little 

 to express our wonder, that in addition to 

 those fine climbers which are in well kept 

 establishments made to depend so naturally 

 from the roof of the house, instead of being 

 retained in that trim restricted form which 

 was once so universal, the interesting open- 

 ground practice of training climbers to poles 

 is not more freely introduced. A pillar of 

 exotic climbing roses, for example, support- 

 ed by a pole, and standing out amidst the 

 varied shrubs or arboreous plants of the 

 conservatory, would be a most delightful 

 object; and there is scarcely a climber of 

 any description that might not be similarly 

 managed ; for, when once they have been 

 brought, by pruning, into a duly compact 

 form, with a tendencj'- to produce early 

 lateral shoots, these last will, if left almost 

 untouched, soon fling themselves out around 

 the stem in every direction, and gradually 

 take that drooping and waving character 

 which makes them so exceedingly graceful. 



The mstaria is an excellent plant for 

 this purpose, as experience has fully proved. 

 By efficient pruning, it will acquire, when 

 at the height of ten or twelve feet, such a 

 number of lateral branches about a foot 

 long, that, after it has reached this state, it 

 will bear only blooming spurs ; or, if it 

 should happen to throw out a few of its 

 long slender shoots, these will only serve 

 to increase its beauty during the summer, 

 and be pruned away in winter. 



