180 TOWN GARDENING -AS IT MIGHT BE 



splendid at midsummer in their wreaths of fragrant, 

 waxy bloom. 



Of the effect of town life on the worthier species of 

 clematis I cannot speak with confidence. There is a 

 very large plant of some kind of clematis, apparently 

 the white-flowered, odorous C. montana, on the side of 

 Dover House facing the Horse Guards Parade ; but it is 

 pruned so closely every year that it never flowers, and 

 this is a kind that flowers only upon the growth of the 

 previous year an important characteristic to remember 

 in dealing with flowering shrubs of that nature. Many 

 a fine Banksia rose I have seen defrauded of its display 

 of blossom, simply because it has been tightly pruned 

 like a hybrid-perpetual, which flowers on the young 

 shoot. The common white jasmine is another climber 

 which should never feel the knife, save to thin out, not 

 to shorten, the stems. 



The white acacia, more correctly Robinia pseud- 

 acacia, one of the best and surest trees for street 

 planting, might be used with good effect for training 

 on the wall of a town house. None has more lovely 

 foliage, none bears greater abundance of flowers, nor 

 carries them for a longer period. The rose-coloured 

 species (Robinia hispida) is even freer to blossom, and 

 is a very beautiful plant, but I fancy the sticky hairs 

 which cover the young shoots would get clogged with 

 smuts to the injury of its vigour. 



The most beautiful area plant of all is one that 

 unluckily flowers too late to decorate London streets 

 during the season ; but if anybody wants to realise the 



