CLIMBING PLANTS. 



57 



CLINTONIA. 



last mode is never wanting, whichever 

 of the former modes may be adopted. 

 The moisture of the atmosphere in 

 plant-structures is maintained by 

 watering the plants ; and by keeping 

 the surface of the ground and floor 

 more or less moistened with water, 

 according to the height of the tempe- 

 rature. The motion of the air is not 

 in general considered of great import- 

 ance, and is generally only effected in 

 fine days when the house can be 

 opened, and the external air freely 

 admitted ; but a mode of heating has 

 recently been invented by Mr. Penn, 

 of Lewisham, by which means a per- 

 petual circulation of air is kept up 

 night and day ; and which, indepen- 

 dently altogether of its effect on the 

 plants, so lessens the feeling of heat 

 to the human frame, that the tempe- 

 rature of eighty degrees in houses 

 where the air is charged with mois- 

 ture, is found to be as agreeable as 

 that of sixty degrees, the common 

 temperature of comfortable living- 

 rooms. 



Climbing Plants are those plants 

 that raise themselves from the ground 

 by attaching themselves to whatever 

 objects may be near them. One class 

 of climbers attach themselves by ten- 

 drils, such as the vine, and the pas- 

 sion flower ; others by the footstalks 

 of leaves, as in the nasturtium, and 

 some species of clematis ; another class 

 twine their stems round objects, such 

 as the convolvulus ; while some at- 

 tach themselves by small root-like 

 bodies, such as the common ivy, and 

 the Ampelopsis, or Virginian creeper ; 

 and others raise themselves by as- 

 cending through other plants, such as 

 the common nightshade in hedges, or 

 the plant called the Duke of Argyle's 

 tea-tree, Lycium bdrbarum. The 

 twiners may be supported by single 

 rods ; but all the others, excepting 

 those which support themselves in the 

 manner of the ivy, require branched 



stakes, such as the sticks put into 

 rows of peas ; while plants of the na- 

 ture of ivy, require a wall, a rock, or 

 the rugged trunk of a tree. In gene- 

 ral, all climbing plants, when they are 

 not furnished with the means of rais- 

 ing themselves np, extend their shoots 

 along the surface of the ground, when 

 they become what are called trailers, 

 or they root into it like the ivy, and 

 become what are called creepers. 

 Climbing plants are of singular use in 

 gardening for covering walls, orna- 

 menting trellis-work, arcades, veran- 

 das, or ornamental props, in the form 

 of cones, pyramids, parasols, &c. 



CliVea. — Amaryllidaceos. — An 

 imperfect bulb, or leek-rooted plant, 

 of easy culture in the greenhouse in 

 loamy soil ; it preserves its deep green 

 foliage all the year, and sends up 

 strong stems bearing red and yellow 

 flowers from May to August. 



Clinto'nia. — LobeliacecB. — Beau- 

 tiful little annuals, flowering profusely 

 the whole summer. They are na- 

 tives of California, but will bear heat 

 better than the generality of annuals 

 from that country. They are gene- 

 rally raised on a hotbed (the seeds 

 being sown in February), and planted 

 out in May ; but they may be sown 

 in the open border in April. They 

 require a very rich soil, consisting of 

 one part of sandy loam, two of vege- 

 table mould, and one of rotten ma- 

 nure ; or, where vegetable mould can- 

 not readily be procured, of equal parts 

 of sandy loam and manure ; and they 

 should be constantly watered while 

 they are growing. The seed pod is 

 below the flower, and looks like its 

 footstalk. If the seeds are sown in 

 pots as soon as they are ripe, and kept 

 in shelter all the winter, they will be 

 ready for planting out into beds or 

 boxes, for a veranda or balcony, in 

 March or April, and they will be bril- 

 liantly in flower by May ; and if con- 

 stantly watered, they will continue to 



