A 
28 Mr. Rerrox’s Observations on the 
places with and without Ivy was so striking, that I was insensi- 
bly led to collect facts in support of the opinion so diametri- 
cally opposite to the theory of those who consider Ivy as a de- 
stroyer. In Miller's Dictionary by Martyn, we read, ** Hedera (ab 
edendo, quod arbores exedit, because it wastes and devours 
trees) ;" and in Evelyn’s Silva, book ii. chap. vii. it is classed 
among the things injurious to trees, without any reason assigned, 
and is thus mentioned : * Ivy is destroyed by digging up its roots 
and loosening its hold; but even the removal of Ivy itself, if 
very old, and when it has long invested its support, is attended 
with pernicious consequences, the tree frequently dying from the 
sudden exposure to unaccustomed cold." And I have found in 
the north of England that Ivy is considered as a “ clothing to 
keep the tree warm." Yet the poets of all ages have accused the 
Ivy of feeding on the tree by which it is supported: although it 
is now very generally known that it draws its nourishment from 
the soil by roots, and not from those fibres which have been 
mistaken for roots, but which are in fact claspers by which it 
fastens its tendrils to the bark of trees, when the bark is of suffi- 
cient thickness : but it is a remarkable fact, that Ivy will not lay 
hold of the shoots of any tree till the bark is three or more years 
old ; and that it is more apt to attach itself to trees whose bark 
is decayed, than to young and healthy shoots where the bark is 
thin and smooth. 
It very rarely happens that Ivy climbs to the extremity of a 
young shoot ; and if it were capable of doing so, and of subduing 
the growth of young branches, it would more easily destroy the 
shoots of pollards cut down close into very large masses of Ivy, 
as we often see by the side of high roads; whereas, on the contrary, 
it will be found, that if there be any difference in the growth of 
such shoots, it will be in favour of those pollards that are most 
profusely covered with Ivy. 
Another 
