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254 CLIMBING PLANTS 
plant on a large frame, or more often its opposite, or a slender¬ 
stemmed plant with small foliage, like the tropseolum, is placed 
to grow upon a trellis with meshes far too large; but the most 
unsightly and frequent of all the mistakes is the employment of 
a frame whose outline draws to a point at the top; a shape diame¬ 
trically opposed to that naturally assumed by all climbing plants, 
which invariably branch most at a distance from the root, and 
hence the necessity of the contortions witnessed to make the 
branches cover the bottom of the trainer. 
1 2 
A figure like that annexed (1) is every way preferable, and for 
the plants mentioned would be unexceptionable; its obvious su¬ 
periority over the pointed one (2) scarcely needs pointing to. 
The latter could be employed only for subscandent specimens, 
which branch closely from the base of their stems, and would 
perhaps be better without a support of the kind, indeed we in¬ 
troduce without the slightest intention to recommend the form, 
but rather to show the advantages of its opposite. There is a 
wide field for the fancy to range in at pleasure in the designs 
for the trainers of this kind, and the only restrictions necessary 
to be observed are, that the fashion of the article be made sub¬ 
servient to its utility, by paying regard to the character of the 
plant it is intended to support. Those most commonly used are 
remarkable for their simplicity, like the subjoined, and this, with 
attention to their appropriate character, perhaps ought to be the 
leading feature, lest the eye is taken rather from the admiration 
of the plant to contemplate the elaborate excellence of the frame. 
