CLIMBERS IN NATURE 9 



gardener to be good plants. One hundred genera have 

 been selected, and the species of each that may legitimately 

 claim to be of proved horticultural merit enumerated. 

 Anyone wishing to find out what plants would be most 

 suitable, either for the outdoor garden, the greenhouse, or 

 the stove, had better first read the chapter dealing with 

 the special department, and then turn to Chapter XV for 

 particulars of the plants recommended for it. 



There are no doubt good plants which are not included 

 in this list. In a book of this kind we must be selective, 

 and strive as we may, there will be defects of commission 

 and omission. Still, most requirements ought to be met 

 in one hundred genera, and, at the price, if I may be 

 allowed to say so, the book is comprehensive enough. 

 The best one can hope for in a book such as the present is 

 a safe indication, a helpful hint. To the man who means 

 business and who has resourcefulness this will be suffi- 

 cient. Those who want to be told everything must try 

 an encyclopaedia. 



Before dealing with climbers in their purely horticul- 

 tural bearing it may be worth while ttJ say something about 

 them as they occur in nature, and to briefly set out what a 

 climber is, and by what methods it is enabled to hold its 

 own among plants that are self-supporting. 



The embraces of some climbers are of such a character 

 as to strangle the trees supporting them. Ivy has had that 

 kind of effect on trees in certain circumstances, but its 

 embrace is nothing when compared with that of some 

 members of the fig tribe, gigantic Leguminosae and species 

 of Clusia. They gradually wind themselves serpent-like 

 round the trunks of trees, and as they tighten by reason 

 of the growth of the host, the climbers interfere with 



