Garden Revelations. 45 



season, and if you would make a thorough examination of my vir- 

 tues, thrust an iron into my side early in the spring before frost is 

 gone, and witness the throbbing and beating of my pulses as my 

 sap ascends. Have I not been gathering sweets from the earth for 

 my summer needs'? Catch my delicious juices if you will, and 

 analyze them, you will find there crystals as pure and beautiful as 

 those of the diamond. Very early I put out my scarlet leaves and 

 tassels, and some members of my family shower down beautiful 

 winged, lace-like seeds of scarlet and pale green before the leaf is 

 half grown. 



While conversing with the maple tree, we spy an English ivy 

 clinging to the bark, which we try to disengage, but in vain, for it 

 seems to have become a part of the tree. My companion exclaims, 

 " What can this mean? roots growing out of the ground? I thought 

 roots were made to grow in the ground." The ivy sweetly replies, 

 ' ( My dear, these aerial roots enable me to climb bush, stone and 

 castle wall, and when I have established myself, they hold me as 

 firmly in place as if I were planted in the ground." Then we spoke 

 of Washington's old church in Alexandria. My friend says it has 

 become a bower of lovely green. At one time an effort was made 

 to exterminate it, as the roots were growing into the cement to 

 such an extent that the building was in danger of weakening. But 

 cutting it oft* at the ground was of no use, for the vine would not 

 yield until the cement did, and in despair the effort was abandoned. 

 Dear old ivy, stand firm; hold fast; and when the walls crumble 

 and fall to the ground, you shall go with them to beau Jfy the ruins 

 with your drapery of fresh, bright, living green. 



The study of vines with their various ways of growth is most 

 instructive and interesting. We will stop for a moment to exam- 

 ine the vines growing in the rustic hanging basket. First the 

 Maurandia with its delicate, little, heart-shaped leaf, we find grow- 

 ing upwards, over the handle of the basket, even into the traes, as 

 it inclines only to an upward growth, and clings to the support by 

 the leaf stalk. If, perchance, we oblige it to grow over the side of 

 the basket, it constantly holds out beseeching hands to us to lift it 

 up. But the Lineria inclines only to a downward growth, and finds 

 its true place only as it falls over the basket. The rustic hanging 

 basket alone is revealing to us many mysteries of plant life, and as 

 we study it, we are astonished and delighted at the workings of na- 



