INTRODUCTORY 



3 



at least one of these plants, even if it is impossible to 

 use the Grape Vine with its beautiful leaves and its 

 succeeding luscious fruit. In the pages which follow 

 there is named a wealth of choice climbing plants for all 

 such buildings ; some are slender and graceful, while 

 others produce huge, ornamental leaves and flowers 

 more suitable for the great winter garden or conservatory 

 than for the modest greenhouse of the amateur, who 

 can draw from among the smaller-flowered or weaker- 

 growing genera something to suit his purpose. 



Nor is it necessary in growing climbing plants either 

 in the open or under glass, to expend much money in 

 securing their beautiful effects. How much may be 

 done with a packet of common " Nasturtiums " as we 

 familiarly call the varieties of Tropaeolum majus ! How 

 much will eventually be covered by a plant of a pretty 

 Ivy, costing only a few pence, or a graceful Clematis, 

 which can be had for eighteenpence or less ! The 

 wealthy amateur who can afford to expend a large sum 

 ought to purchase a large number of the choicest climbers 

 and wall shrubs, but none who have gardens need be or 

 ought to be without as many as possible of these 

 valuable plants, whose worth for decorative purposes 

 can hardly be overpraised. 



The study of the nature and habits of climbers is a 

 most interesting one, upon which a vast amount of light 

 has been thrown by the researches and experiments of 

 Charles Darwin, De Vries, and others. Naturally, in a 

 work of this size, it is impossible to enter into such 

 questions in detail, and those who wish to study the 

 subject will do well to peruse carefully such works as 

 Darwin's " Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants " 

 (London, John Murray), where they will find much to 

 interest and also much which will help them in cultivating 

 these plants. 



The development of the climbing habit appears to be 



