THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



137 



not train itself regularly ; and in dry 

 weather it should have plenty of water, 

 varied now and then with a dose of 

 liquid manure, and the next spring 

 the whole of it should be cut over to 

 within two inches of the surface of the 

 ground. At will immediately start 

 afresh, grow rampantly, train itself, 

 and do all you desire, provided it really 

 has some fair amount of daylight, and 

 from that time forth need very little 

 further attention. But it is a good 

 plan to trim it in every spring, so as to 

 leave only one regular thickness of 

 stem over the whole surface, and the 

 top should be cut in a straight line, so 

 as to shorten in all the joints to one 

 uniform height. This treatment will 

 make the next growth still more rapid, 

 and after that you may let it mount as 

 it likes, over cbimneys, buttresses, and 

 to form round blooming heads, or keep 

 it close and regular with the knife, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the position it 

 is in, and your own taste regarding it. 



I shall treat my 250 feet of fence in 

 this way : In the higher portion?, 

 where we want a screen fifty feet high, 

 I have planted Virginian creeper to mix 

 with it, for there is nothing among the 

 colours of autumn more beautiful than 

 the bright, ruddy foliage of Ampelopsis, 

 mixed with the rich, dark green of 

 Irish ivy. 



The same course of treatment should 

 be adopted, whatever use ivy is put to. 

 On a high, square cottage wall, where 

 all must be neat and orderly, the 

 English ivy is almost preferable to the 

 Irish, on account of the beautiful 

 veining of its leaves, and the close, 

 regular manner in which it bites the 

 surface. Kept to one layer of stems — 

 that is, no second stem being allowed 

 to run over the one that holds to the 

 wall, and not a single piece allowed 

 anywhere out of the perpendicular — and 

 cut to a straight line at top every year, 

 a breadth of the common British ivy 

 is extremely beautiful, and where a 

 vine or honeysuckle is carried on a sin- 

 gle stem up to the higher portions of 

 the wall, and trained right and left, 

 the small-leaved British ivy makes a 

 beautiful covering to run as high as the 

 lowest rods of the vine, and may be 

 kept to that line by the use of the 

 knife, every spring. The way to cut 



it when so grown, is to lay a straight 

 edge where the top line is to be, and 

 with a sharp knife, cut a clean, hori- 

 zontal line from left to right, across 

 the brickwork. To clip it bit by bit, 

 woidd loosen the stems from the wall, 

 make the line irregular, and be a waste 

 of time into the bargain. 



The uses to which ivy may be put 

 are almost endless. It makes a beau- 

 tiful surfacing for rough shrubberies 

 and wilderness walks, and, especially, if 

 the ground is broken. Dark, shady 

 banks, and rising knolls show its beauty 

 to* perfection, and in places where but 

 little else would grow, the ground may 

 be covered with it, and a green carpet 

 formed, that will be beautiful in every 

 season of the year. In gardens, the 

 use of it on mounds and knolls is a 

 great help in the production of pic- 

 turesque effects, whether among root 

 and rock-work, about water or rustic 

 shedding, or even in the neigbourhood 

 of bright flower-beds and borders. In 

 such places it always needs to be on 

 elevations to tell with effect, and then 

 its dark green forms a background 

 of repose to the brightest flowers. 

 Seldom in my life have I been without 

 good ivy mounds, but my present 

 garden is horribly flat and tame 

 to the eye, and our improvements 

 will not be completed till we have 

 a few bold knolls to relieve the 

 monotony. The thing is easy enough, 

 a bottom of brick rubbish, a few loads 

 of loam, a surfacing of flints or burrs, 

 and then well-rooted ivies planted be- 

 tween them. Shrubs and trees, such as 

 aucubas, arbutus, Portugal laurel, holly, 

 double flowering gorse, Portugal and 

 Spanish broom, the "lady birch," the 

 sweet bay, &c, to crown the higher parts, 

 and form a background, would complete 

 a picture which might be a feature dis- 

 tinct in itself, or used as a mode of 

 "planting out" an unsightly prospect. 

 Even in a little town garden, the grimy 

 walls may always be hidden by such a 

 contrivance : a mere bank thrown up 

 at the farther end, faced with burrs, 

 and planted here and there with showy 

 alpines, such as yellow alyssum, dark 

 flowering thrift, white andyellow stone- 

 crop, &c, and ivy to run all over it, 

 and drop over to the path, the wall also 

 to be covered yviihchimonanthus, white 



