50 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



of its good nature and free summer and autumn flowering 

 habit. The many forms of it may be used in various ways, 

 either on pergolas, arches, summer-houses, verandahs, 

 pillars, house fronts, old trees, or as trailers over rock- 

 work. Hop-pole treatment is not unsuitable for them ; 

 they may also supplant Ivy as drapery for old walls, 

 and ruins. 



The general method of propagation for Clematises is 

 by grafting, done in warmth in early spring or even winter. 

 The stock used is the fleshy root of C. Vitalba, and the 

 scion a young shoot, or portion of one, prepared for the 

 purpose by forcing into early growth the plant of which 

 stock is required. With proper appliances and just that 

 skill in cutting and fitting which is got by experience, it 

 is easy to raise any number of plants of a given variety, or, 

 at any rate, as many as there are scions available, for the 

 expert grafter does not anticipate a single failure. 



But grafting is not really necessary ; one might go 

 further and say it is not the best way to propagate Clema- 

 tises. On this point I will quote here what Professor 

 Balfour stated in his Problems of Propagation : " The com- 

 mon belief is that Clematises are difficult to strike, and 

 propagation by grafting is frequently adopted. They are 

 really not difficult to strike from cuttings, if the cutting be 

 made through an internode. Internodal cuttings may be 

 struck within a fortnight. It is otherwise if nodal cuttings 

 are used. These callus well profusely indeed but refuse 

 to form roots either from the callus or from the stem above 

 it. Doubtless this has given rise to the widely spread 

 belief that it is difficult to strike cuttings of Clematis. An 

 internodal cutting is a portion of a shoot, the base of which, 

 instead of being just below the joint or node, is some dis- 



