CHAPTER IV 



CLIMBERS AND TRAILERS 



In nature the mission of the vine is to cover 

 for obscurity or for protection or shelter and in the 

 garden it is often put to similar uses. But the vine 

 has other and nobler uses. Its delicate tracery upon 

 classic or other pretentious architecture is a thing of 

 extreme beauty and should be kept with this end in 

 view, under complete control. It is sometimes per- 

 missible to hide, or at least to soften, the more harsh 

 and monotonous lines of architecture by the judicious 

 use of delicate vines, not of the kinds, however, used 

 to obscure unsightly objects or cover arbors. Not all 

 vines were intended for the same mission in life, and 

 man should choose, with judgment born of experi- 

 ence and based on observation, where each should go 



or what vines to use for specific purposes. 



Whenever that stage is reached where vines look 

 heavy and cumbersome they should be thinned out; 

 the necessity of this in connection with the desira- 

 bility of light, graceful effects, goes far to prove the 

 claim that climbing roses are unfitted for house deco- 

 ration. It is far better to grow them on fences, over 

 arbors, pergolas, or outbuildings of little importance 

 to the landscape. One most important point is that 

 the house must be first considered. It is the one im- 

 portant object, not the vine or vines; they should 

 decorate the house with a fitting drapery and not 

 make a vinery with patches of building peeping out. 

 The lines of architecture should be softened but not 

 obscured. 



