316 



TRAINING. 



with the simplest, and concluding with the different forms employed 

 in training fruit trees. 



Training herbaceous plants in beds or borders is in some kinds 

 effected by fastening them down to the surface of the ground, or to 

 rock-work or a surface of pebbles, by means of pegs, loops of matting, 

 hair-pins, or other material ; or by layrftg on the shoots small stones. 

 Twining flowers, such as the common convolvulus, or twining escu- 

 lents, such as the scarlet-runner, only require straight rods, or branches 

 with upright shoots, such as those of the beech, placed close by the 

 plants. Branches are in general to be preferred to straight branchless 

 rods for herbaceous climbers, because by offering a number of inter- 

 ruptions to the ascent of the climbing stem, they encourage it to 

 divaricate, and consequently to produce a greater number of flowers 

 and fruit within a limited space. Tendrilled climbers, such as sweet 

 peas, and those with rambling stems, such as the nasturtium, are also 

 supported by branches placed in a circle round each patch, or along 

 each side of a row, of the height to which the plants are expected to 

 grow ; or straight hazel rods are inserted in the soil obliquely so as to 

 touch at top and bottom, and cross in the middle, so as to form lozenge- 

 work; or wires may be supported by iron or wooden rods in any 

 desired form. Tall-growing plants with stems having terminal flowers, 

 and which do not branch, such as some asters, when they cannot sup- 

 port themselves, require to be loosely enclosed by three or four rods 

 placed close to the roots at bottom, and spreading outwards at top, and 

 connected by twine ; or, in some cases, a slender rod may be placed to 

 each stem. On no account should such clusters of stems be tied 

 together in bunches, a common practice among slovenly gardeners, as 

 the compression rots the leaves and lessens the size of the flowers. 



Plants having branchy stems, such as 

 Lupines, should, if staked at all, have a 

 stake to each stem, thinning them out 

 where they are so numerous as to produce 

 a crowded appearance. Florists' flowers, 

 such as the carnation, the dahlia, &c., re- 

 quire particular kinds of stakes, and the 

 greatest care in tying. 



Herbaceous and shrubby plants in pots 

 being in a highly artificial state, when 

 they require training should have straight 

 rods, or symmetrical frames of laths, or 

 of wire-work. Pelargoniums when of 

 large size are trained by means of straight 

 terminal shoots of willow or hazel, so as 

 to radiate their branches from the pot, and 

 form a regular hemisphere of foliage and 

 flowers, close but not crowded. Various 

 training frames have been adopted for 



ornamental climbers in pots, which are 

 Wire-frameworJc for climbing- f ormed o f rods and ring3 o f stout wire 

 plants in pots. 



Fig. 263. 



