CLIMBING PLANTS AND CREEPERS 101 



old and well-established plants. The clipping ought to be thor- 

 oughly and vigorously carried out, and the ivy cut back close to 

 the wall or fence. All old and worn-out wood should be ruthlessly 

 removed, and all dead leaves cut off. The immediate effect may 

 be to produce a very bare appearance, but the wonderful growth 

 which will soon follow this vigorous pruning will in a few weeks 

 give ample evidence of the beneficial effect of the operation. 

 Ivy is often grown with delightful decorative effect on the 

 trunks of living trees. Where this is done the ivy ought not 

 to be allowed to grow far up the trunk, but kept to within six 

 or eight feet of the base. 



Ivy is propagated by means of cuttings. These should be taken 

 from firm and well-developed, and not from young and fleshy 

 shoots. They may be planted in a shallow trench, along the 

 bottom of which a layer of sand has been placed. After the lower 

 leaves of the shoots have been removed the cuttings should be 

 inserted in the trench so that their bases rest firmly on the sand. 

 Some fresh fine soil must then be filled in the trench, and the 

 whole trodden down hard round the base of the cuttings. The 

 best time for planting cuttings out of doors is October, but where 

 this has not been possible they may still be propagated in pots, 

 if the latter be placed in a warm frame or greenhouse. 



Among perennial climbers jasmine possesses the additional 

 merit that it bears a profusion of flowers. There are a number of 

 varieties that flourish in British gardens. Most of them are 

 deciduous, but there is one, jasminum humile revolutum, which 

 is evergreen, and forms an excellent decoration for walls. Its 

 flowers are bright yellow, and they are borne without stint in 

 summer and early autumn. The most commonly grown variety 

 is jasminum officinale, which perfumes the air from June to Sep- 

 tember with its wealth of pretty white blossoms. An indispens- 

 able adjunct to the garden is jasminum nndlflorum, which bears 

 sweetly scented yellow flowers alorig Its leafless shoots in the 

 depth of winter. The best positions for it are a wall, a trellis 

 or a pergola, or it may be planted with very pretty effect in con- 

 junction with ivy, the dark evergreen leaves of the ivy forming a 



