of Rural Art and Taste. 



61 



|tw3i \^\n 



The Ivy for In-door Decoration. — We 

 do not know a single vine so suitable for 

 growing in the ordinary air of living-rooms 

 and will stand so much hard usage as the 

 Ivy. The only point on which cultivators 

 err by neglect is the failure to keep its leaves 

 well washed and clean. If this is done two 

 or three times a week, and the soil watered 

 as often, it will grow for weeks, and even 

 years, without danger from change of tem- 

 perature. Josiah Hoopes also recommends 

 in The Tribune this vine, in auswer to the 

 inquiry of a lady who wanted something not 

 too troublesome nor too tender. He says : 



Ivy will succeed better in our dry, warm 

 rooms than almost any plant with which I 

 am acquainted, and all that is needed to 

 make it attractive is the exercise of a little 

 ingenuity in the appliances for its home. A 

 vase, not necessarily costly by any moans, 

 will answer a good purpose ; and this reminds 

 me of an excellent idea I lately noticed in 

 a foreign periodical for growing this very 

 plant. Long shoots of the Ivy were pro- 

 cured, with the young and tender aerial 

 roots very abundant ; the lower ends were 

 wrapped in moss, and then some five or six 

 of these were tightly tied together at the 

 bottom and placed in the vase ; fill the vase 

 within a few inches of the top, and suspend 

 the ball of moss therein. The roots will 

 soon commence to grow, and afterward the 

 moss should not quite reach the water, as 

 the roots will extend down into it, and prove 

 all-sufiicient. So many very beautiful vari- 

 eties of Ivy are now in cultivation that, by 

 selecting kinds that will form a decided con- 

 trast in shape and color, the effect will be 

 sensibly heightened. The center of the vase 

 may be filled with cut flowers, or grass, or, 

 indeed, nothing would look better than 

 ferns. The Ivy may be allowed to hang 

 down over the sides of the vase in graceful 

 festoons, or else trained over and around the 

 window, thus making a room appear cheer- 

 ful and pleasant all winter long. It is not 



necessary, and, in fact, I do not believe it 

 will grow as well in the strong light as when 

 in a partially shaded position, as the Ivy 

 loves shade, and an even, cool atmosphere. 

 I have known instances where Ivy has been 

 grown in large tubs, and trained up a stair- 

 way, thus forming a mass of green foliage 

 from the hall below to the floor above. 

 Used in any way, as fancy directs, it is un- 

 excelled as a house plant. 



Roses. — The rose is not a new beauty. 

 It was cultivated, and loved, and sung by 

 the poets, centuries ago ; but it has been 

 improved by crossing, as have the most of 

 our flowers, fruits and vegetables. The rose 

 likes a virgin soil, and the nearer the com- 

 position of our rose-beds approximates to 

 that, the greater will our success be likely 

 to be. Hence, decayed sods and leaf-mould 

 from the woods, when it has been sweetened 

 by the sun, are good fertilizers. 



The old-fashioned way of scattering roses 

 about the lawn is not the best way. Their 

 culture, thus isolated, is apt to be neglected, 

 and grass work in and choke them ; besides 

 the efi"ect is not equal to where they are 

 grouped in a round or oblong bed, highest 

 in the centre. 



Suppose that we decide to plant a bed of 

 Hybrid Perpetuals. In the center we would 

 want a white rose or a cluster of white roses, 

 according to the size of the bed. Madame 

 Alfred de Rougemont is one of the finest 

 whites ; Portland Blanche is another fine 

 one. Next we can have a row of flesh color 

 and pink. Caroline de Sansal is one of the 

 finest of the former, and Sydonie of the lat- 

 ter ; Auguste Mie — rosy pink — would pretty 

 nearly correspond with this shade. The next 

 row should be still deeper — rose or deep 

 rose. Of this shade, we have Barronne Pre- 

 vost, Victor Verdier and Madam Victor 

 Verdier. In the next row we could have 

 rosy crimson, rosy lilac, rosy carmine and 

 vermilion. Among those of these shades, 

 Anne de Diesbach, General Washington, 

 John Hopper, La Heine, Mad. Fremion, 

 Maurice Bernardin and William G-riffith 



