What is a Kindergarten Author:George Hansen Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: VINES AND CLIMBERS. The airy build of the trailing and climbing plants exerts a powerful influence over a child. It is true that all plants grow and show vari... more »ation in height and vigor, but the additional equipment of tendrils and the winding character gives to the vines a heightened interest. The ascending of the Morning Glory, and the twisting of grasping leaves of the Clematis, do not need to be pointed out to the child. They speak for themselves. The care which these plants require in fastening their runners and rearranging what became twisted will appeal to a child as the address of friends. Let a child observe now and then how such care has to be applied, and the little girl will make it a sacred duty to look out for some certain vines, and thus be educated for life's earnest duties. I want to speak a word of warning about the careless setting out of climbers. I mention here, as at several other points, that the appointment of any grounds is work for a professional, and to him should be left the perfect arrangement of vines in the limited grounds. In none of the areas I deal with is there room for a Passion Vine. Yet, if its most peculiar flowers are considered needful to fascinate a child's attention, plant it at the entrance or at the outside fence. The same should be said about Tacsonias, either of which kinds succeed only in warm climes. It is not at all unlikely that in climes where the Cobaea scandens will grow, such vine would be picked out first of any as the best to clothe a wall or fence. I emphasize that its rapidity of trailing is very entertaining, and that its mode of fastening is always plain to the investigating eye of a child. The flowers, also, are large and bold, and the changing from pale-green to purple is another feature to attract attention. But t...« less