70 A GUIDE TO FLORICULTURE. 



CLEMATIS, OR TRAVELLER'S JOY. 



" The Travellers Joy is a darling thing, 



None loveth it more than I ; 

 I've seen it in courtly gardens cling ; 

 I've seen it 'mid rocks and ruins spring; 

 I know hedge-rows where it's wandering 

 And I smile as I pass it by." 



This is a fine family of half hardy herbaceous flowering 

 plants, natives of different countries, some are sweet scented ; 

 and as a pot plant well calculated for parlor culture, run- 

 ning from ten to fifteen feet, which requires a frame of fan- 

 cy work to show the plant to the best advantage. The 

 Clematis has been in cultivation about four hundred years, 

 and is much esteemed by florists and retains a conspicuous 

 place in the green-house, although it will bear considerable 

 frost. The leaves generally are pinnate, segments smooth, 

 entire, or three lobed, and various form, of rapid growth, 

 the wood slender and shrubby, and is easily grown from 

 cuttings in the spring or by seed ; the soil for these plants 

 should be rich. To raise new varieties it will be necessary 

 to have recourse to impregnation, as this variety of plants 

 will not cross by natural means. 



To take this extensive variety of trailing plants as a 

 whole it would be difficult to find any more beautiful, or of 

 easier culture, desirable as well as ornamental, repaying the 

 amateur for the little trouble bestowed on its culture. The 

 Clematis introduced by Dr. Seibold, named " Violet. Clema- 

 tis" is considered one of the best, of a clear arid delightful 



