136 



THE FLOKAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



in a sixty pot, then fill up with loam, 

 leaf-mould, and a little old dung— in 

 fact, use a little of your balsam com- 

 post ; then, next the side of the pot, 

 thrust in a short stick, of half-inch 

 thickness, to make a firm hole. Insert 

 the cutting, with its roots unbroken, 

 and fill the hole up with silver sand, 

 so that the cutting remains planted next 

 the side of the pot in pure silver sand, 

 with roots already formed, and with a 

 rich soil to work into the moment it 

 begins to move. A cold frame, or a 

 spent_ hot-bed, or even a gentle bottom 

 heat in the coolest part of a cucumber 

 bed, would suit it, and every one so 

 treated might be shifted into a forty- 

 eight by the end of the summer; and 

 the training from that time would be- 

 gin; the first point being to get a 

 straight stem, then to stop it to cause 

 a head to grow, and then to make the 

 most of the next growth to cover the 

 wire design. 



The next best way would be to cut 

 up these partially-rooted young shoots 

 into three or four inch lengths ; to cut 

 away all but the two or three leaves 

 at the top of each, and plant them 

 pretty close together all round the 

 sides of five-inch pots ; the bottom of 

 each cutting to touch the crocks used 

 for drainage, and the pots to be filled 

 up with loam, leaf-mould, and sand, 

 and a little extra sand next the 

 cuttings. If taken early, they will 

 do all the better for a little bottom 

 heat, or they might be plunged in a 

 cold frame or in a bed of coal ashes, on 

 a north border, and kept moderately 

 moist and well shaded, and, if potted 

 firm, you would not lose one. To make 

 good plants of them, they ought to be 

 potted into sixties as soon as they had 

 made a few good breaks, again shaded 

 and encouraged to grow during the 

 whole of the autumn, and the best 

 place to winter them would be a cold 

 frame, in which they would start 

 early in spring, and after the middle 

 of April they should have liberal cul- 

 ture, shifts as required, and full ex- 

 posure. 



A still easier but slower method is to 

 strike them in the open ground. Pre- 

 pare a sandy border in a shady place, 

 slip off as many as you want, and the 

 best for this purpose are the shoots of 



the preceding year; old, hardwood does 

 not root so quickly, but young shoots 

 of the season will do. Cut them four 

 or five inches long, trim away the 

 lower leaves, but leave the stump of 

 each leaf stalk as .you do in the case of 

 other cuttings. Dibble them in in rows 

 six inches apart, and the slips four 

 inches asunder, in the rows. Give 

 water in dry weather, and let them 

 grow as they like till the next spring, 

 and at the end of April, or first week 

 in May, they may be planted where 

 you want them. 



The next point is to get ivy to grow; 

 and here a very common mistake oc- 

 curs. People see ivy rioting in luxu- 

 riance, in places so shaded that nothing 

 else would grow there, and often in the 

 very poorest soil ; and hence coming to 

 the conclusion that ivy "will grow in 

 any soil or situation," it gets the worst 

 of treatment, and folks wonder how it 

 is that such a hardy, vigorous thing 

 should disappoint them when they Avant 

 to form a screen in some particular 

 position. The fact is, whenever you see 

 a vast growth of luxuriant ivy, you 

 must conclude that it is the growth of 

 3 T ears, and that it has sent its roots into 

 something better than a hungry sand ; 

 and if you want ivy to look as ivy 

 ought to look, you must treat it libe- 

 rally, and give it proper attention. 

 Under the notion of its growing in 

 spite of circumstances, roots are planted 

 against walls that are involved in al- 

 most perpetual twilight by the shade 

 of tall trees, and the planting consists 

 in opening holes Avith a trowel, and 

 sticking in the roots where they are to 

 remain ; and, after that, such growth 

 as it makes is nailed in, or left to train 

 itself, and much surprise is expressed 

 at its doing badly year after year, and, 

 perhaps, never in a life time covering 

 the wall, as it is wished to do. The 

 fact is, ivy, like most other things, 

 likes a generous soil, and where it is 

 wanted to run quick, and make a sub- 

 stantial screen, the soil should be 

 trenched in the winter, and left rough 

 for the frost to act upon it. During 

 dry weather, in March, a liberal dress- 

 ing of half-rotted dung should be dug in ; 

 in April, or early in May, the ivy should 

 be planted ; through the summer its 

 growth should be nailed in, if it does 



