96 THE BOOK OF CLIMBING PLANTS 



and that they are healthier when these parts are shaded 

 by other plants. This is a valuable discovery, and those 

 who have hitherto failed with these lovely flowers will 

 do well to adopt some method of shading the lower 

 stems. This is not to be taken as advising a shady 

 position for the Clematis, for it is usually a sun-lover, 

 but only as regards the portions of the stems near the 

 ground or for two or three feet above. 



Like most climbing plants, the Clematis demands and 

 repays the most generous treatment in the way of pre- 

 paration of the soil, and it is to be feared that this is 

 not always afforded, with the result that poor, weak, 

 flowerless growths are made and disappointment results. 

 The soil ought to be deeply trenched, and plenty of 

 rotten manure added, with a proportion of lime, and 

 a good dressing of basic slag. It is a plant which 

 naturally likes a calcareous soil, and, even when estab- 

 lished, thrives all the better if it is afforded an annual 

 top-dressing of rotted manure and some lime, with a 

 little leaf soil or some good loam. The general direc- 

 tions as to planting climbers will apply otherwise. 



The Clematis well repays by greater beauty some 

 attention in the shape of proper training and pruning. 

 It is frequently neglected in the way of training until 

 the young shoots are so intermingled and entwined that 

 it is injured when an attempt is eventually made to dis- 

 entangle the growths. The large-flowered forms, in 

 particular, ought to be carefully tied with raffia or some 

 other soft material to keep them in the direction desired. 

 Pruning, also, is worthy of more care than it receives 

 at the hand of the amateur. Those Clematises which 

 flower on the old wood require very little attention, 

 except in the way of cutting out all weak and strag- 

 gling shoots, and shortening the others to a small extent 

 only. The patens, florida, lanuginosa, and montana 

 sections practically all require this treatment, which 



