DIFFERENT METHODS OF TREATING PASSION-FLOWERS. 
39 
(jfor dwarf evergreens to fill the beds in winter. By this means they may be trans- 
(jj planted with nearly as slight apprehensions of harm as if they had been grown in 
I pots. In broader pieces slate may also be employed to form compartments in a 
I greenhouse border, for confining the roots of strong-growing plants. This will 
I restrain them more effectually, and occupy a smaller space than brick-work. And, 
■ besides these purposes, the material may probably be made available for a variety 
of other objects connected with horticulture. 
DIFFERENT METHODS OF TREATING PASSION- 
FLOWERS. 
I Several species of Passijlora have been long and deservedly great favourites 
I amongst greenhouse and stove climbers, especially where ample space has permitted 
them a liberal extension, and something of the gracility of nature has escaped the 
barbarous use of the knife, and that still more effectual depressor of beauty— the 
rigid adherence to a formal system of training. Not that we dispute the utility 
of pruning and training under every circumstance and mode of culture : each of 
these operations have their use, but they ought also to have a more circumscribed 
limit than is usually allowed them ; and by the observance of a few simple points, 
much of those evils they are intended to correct may be prevented. 
In most structures, and particularly in large conservatories where room is less 
an object, we meet with some of the species, hanging in graceful festoons from the 
roof, or climbing loosely round pillars, and forming flowery garlands from one to 
the other ; and in such situations they are eminently appropriate and pleasing. 
But in smaller buildings, so much latitude cannot be awarded, for it gives an 
undue and unseemly prominence to one thing, and interferes with the manage- 
ment of others. It is natural, then, to inquire by what means a smaller habit can 
be induced. 
It is a very general practice in the cultivation of climbers to turn the plants 
out of their pots into a border, where the roots have liberty to ramble and spread 
uncurbed for a considerable distance. These borders, moreover, are often com- 
posed of rich materials to a considerable depth, consequently the shoots grow with 
amazing vigour, and frequently acquire a luxuriance and redundancy which is 
exceedingly troublesome, and at the same time a preventive of abundant flowering. 
And in order to confine the growths, which are thus induced and encouraged, to 
the limits allotted for them, pruning and training become indispensable. 
But, why encourage the formation of that which it is never intended to retain, 
and the retention of which is, indeed, impracticable ? and more especially when 
the process by which the superfluity is got rid of, is an actual disfigurement of the 
plant, and, so long as the ability to renew the excess of vigour remains, is but 
