14 HINTS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF OUR 



or trailing plants have possibly been developed from plants of 

 bushy or shrubby habit, which, having had to contend with 

 more lofty and vigorous vegetation, as that of forests, have 

 assumed a lengthened axis to enable them to climb or trail into 

 the light and air. The common Ivy indeed assumes a bushy 

 habit directly it reaches the extremity of the support to which 

 it clings. Chinese and Japanese gardeners have long prac- 

 tised the art of dwarfing large-growing trees; and specimens 

 so treated, only a few inches in height, bear leaves, flowers, 

 and fruit in season, and form pretty little plants for decorative 

 purposes. Taking these facts into consideration, it seems 

 possible, by a careful selection of seedling plants or cuttings 

 from the more shrubby branches, added to a regular system of 

 careful pinching and exposure to light and air, to produce 

 dense-habited or short-jointed shrubby and floriferous varieties 

 of Stephanotis, Bignonia, Dipladenia, Jasmine, and other 

 climbers ; indeed, where desirable, this result has already been 

 attained in Clematis and Allamanda. In the last-mentioned 

 genus a variety named A. Wardleana was exhibited at South 

 Kensington about 1867 or 1868, and plants only an inch or 

 two in height, in small 6o-sized pots, bore from two to six 

 flowers each. This variety is the same, or nearly the same, as 

 A. Hendersonii, a hybrid raised between A. cathartica and 

 A. Schottii. A trial in this direction is well worth attempting ; 

 since climbing - plants, however graceful and useful in some 

 situations, are inconvenient in others, owing to their straggling 

 habit of growth and comparative paucity of flowers. One way 

 of obtaining increased vigour in plants, and consequently 

 greater power to ward off disease, is by changing their food and 

 atmosphere as much as possible at frequent intervals ; and in 

 relation to this fact, it is interesting to note that many of our 

 choicest vegetables, including Asparagus, Seakale, Cabbage 

 (and its numerous forms), and Celery, are natives of our sandy 

 sea-shores ; and after growing for ages in poor soil and exposed 

 positions, they have become succulent by cultivation and selec- 

 tion in the garden. 



Cultivators as a rule do not pay sufficient attention to the 

 careful selection of the plants from which they intend to save 

 seeds. Careful and intelligent selection is, however, the only 

 way to retain any good variety in its pure state, and neglect of 

 this precaution often leads to a degenerate crop. Nor is this 

 result confined to seeds alone ; for as the individual branches, 

 and even parts of branches or buds, are very variable even 

 on the same tree, as great care should be taken in select- 

 ing buds or grafts from early or late, or fruitful and healthy 



