soil. Prepare a sufficiently large area to 
accommodate the roots easily and spread 
them loosely. Then firm the soil around 
the roots. It is not necessary to culti- 
vate Clematis, and, in fact, the roots 
resent coddling. In pruning, one must 
remember that those species of Clematis 
which bloom in the spring months, 
such as Montana rubens, Recta, Mon- 
tana undulata, etc., should not be 
pruned until fall, except for the removal 
of dead wood, which should be cut out 
in February or March. Varieties which 
produce bloom on new wood in the 
summer and fall should not be pruned 
until they have become well established; 
then the vines may be cut back to a 
height of 3 feet to encourage vigorous 
new growth. However, if height is de- 
sired for some special purpose, merely 
remove the dead wood and thin out the 
stems to insure strong growth. Experi- 
ments have proved that size and quality 
of blooms are superior when the plants 
are pruned severely. However, it is 
well to allow all Clematis plants to be- 
come well established before doing much 
in the way of pruning. 
While the uncertain winters of the 
past few years have given gardeners 
much alarm, it is well to remember that 
winter-killing can be greatly checked 
by simply applying a mulch of leaves, 
straw or peat, or well-rooted manure, 
in the late fall. ‘The mulch can be made 
to do double duty since it can be 
incorporated with the soil in the spring. 
Amateur gardeners are well aware that 
a little extra care is worth while for most 
new plants in the garden, and this is 
true of Clematis. It might be of interest 
to state that Clematis plants have with- 
stood a temperature of 40 degrees below 
zero without injury when a protective 
mulch had been used. It is the alternate 
freezing and thawing during winter 
months that does harm to plants, hence 
the reason for using amulch. In the case 
of Clematis the injury occurs at the collar 
of the plant. For regions north of Wash- 
ington, mulching is especially recom- 
mended not only the first winter, but 
as a cheap insurance every winter. 
The large-flowered Clematis are an 
equally desirable adjunct to the small 



Ktwe Epwarp VII. 
ASCOTIENSIS. 



See page 
See page 17 
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