SHRUBS FITTED FOR PLANTING IN BEDS. 
231 
Some time ago, we detailed a plan of treating Clematis ccerulea, whereby it 
could be transformed into a dwarf shrub. The process, as will be remembered, 
consisted in constantly layering the shoots, and leaving portions with buds on them 
above the soil at frequent intervals. These buds being developed into short 
flowering branches, a most splendid shrub is produced, and two or three beds of 
this would contribute a remarkably fine feature to a pleasure-garden. The system 
is likewise, without question, applicable to C. Sieboldii^ to other climbing species 
that are worthy of the trouble, and to many similar climbers. Several kinds of 
Honeysuckle, the sweet-scented Jasmine, and others, would, if thus treated, have a 
peculiarly novel and delightful appearance, if grouped together in beds about the 
pleasure-grounds. The trouble of layering them would not be great, and they 
would soon arrive at a blooming condition, when they might be kept low by 
additional layering, and by pruning. It is indispensable that the process be effected 
while the plants are young, the advantages of early training requiring no enforce- 
ment here. It is also essential that it be done neatly, so that none of the old 
stems be disagreeably perceptible. Indeed, the stems should, if possible, be kept 
wholly out of sight, that the young shoots may appear to be independent plants, 
rising directly out of the earth. 
If it be thought that the utility of the above method is questionable, and that 
its benefits — those, we mean, of converting climbers into dwarf shrubs — might be 
realized by simply planting young specimens, and keeping them pruned down to 
the requisite dwarfness, we must correct such an opinion. From the nature of 
climbing plants, it would be next to impossible to prevent them from rising or 
trailing, and, at the same time, to render them ornamental. And the parts which, 
though having roots of their own, are still connected with a parent stock as 
branches, will grow within tractable limits, and flower most abundantly, would 
not, if detached, be susceptible of the same dwarfness by any amount of pruning, 
and would blossom with infinitely less freedom under such conditions. Every one 
is^conscious that climbing plants bloom best on the laterals thrown out from the 
old wood, after it has reached a certain length and gained a particular age. By 
the mode of treatment we recommend, that oldness and length W T ould be obtained, 
and, simultaneously, a superior number of lateral shoots, in consequence of the main 
branches being so repeatedly bent. The curves created in the branches by layering 
must inevitably promote fertility ; and the management of the plants, after they 
had been brought into a good flowering state, would be precisely that which they 
would have received had they been grown as ordinary climbers. By pruning 
back yearly the young branches, an increased quantity of flowering ones will 
continue to spring from their base. 
In layering the shoots of climbing plants after the manner thus indicated, it is 
immaterial whether they be fastened down with a peg, or merely have a stone of 
sufficient size placed upon them to hinder them from rising. They should not be 
twisted, nor any incision be made in them, since it is not so much the object to 
