116 WINDOW GARDENING. 



But its most successful use is in the hanging basket. Here at home it climbs, 

 and swings, and droops at will, thriving and twining until the arms of the basket 

 are hidden in the dense verdure. Probably no cheaper style of hanging baskets 

 can be obtained than this, and surely none will last as long. 



Another charming use to which the Ivy can be put is to twine it around an 

 Easel in the parlor. Take a small rustic jardinet, such as are figured in one of 

 the chapters of Part I, fill with earth, plant in it a good strong root of the Ivy, 

 and then twine its long tendrils around the edges of the Easel, and let it droop 

 from the top over the picture placed on the rest beneath. It forms one of the 

 finest of draperies and borders for any art engraving, portrait or painting. Little 

 brackets of it may be filled like Fig. 13, in chapter 10, and fastened in the 

 centre of the side of any room, and while the Ivy itself may droop, there may be 

 placed ferns or pressed autumn leaves above to help the efiect with their gay 

 colors. 



Those cuttings which have rooted in water during the winter will need more 

 plant food than this will supply. So in the spring, either plant them in the 

 open border, or place them in pots, with soil, and they will soon become large 

 plants. 



Eight to ten large pots of Ivy trained over stakes and trellises, are at times 

 used by some to ornament a single room. 



Hanging baskets are sometimes constructed entirely without soil — holding only 

 moss. A quantity of vials are filled with water and placed therein so as to be 

 well concealed ; slips of Ivy are inserted in some of these vials ; Ferns are inter- 

 spersed in other bottles, and cut flowers added to others ; brilliant autumn leaves 

 pressed and varnished are added here and there. All combined make a very 

 choice parlor ornament. The only care needed is to keep the water replenished 

 as long as it will last. 



In the previous chapter on hanging baskets may be seen a design of a very 

 hand.some combination of Ferns and climbing Ivy, in Fig. 4, and in Fig. 11, is a 

 sketch of the Ivy as we see it in its most familiar habits of growth. The bowl 

 is an earthen one, such as now are imported and found on sale at most floral 

 stores. A single cutting has been placed in here, and now it is branching out- 

 ward vigorously. 



The diiections for propagating Ivy from slips or cuttings, are very simple. 

 Take a young, tender branchlet, cut about three inches in length, and insert half 

 an inch of its stem in wet sand, or soil, under a bell glass or tumbler. Keep 

 the soil well moistened, and yet warm, by placing it in the sunshine for fully a 

 week. Then loosen the sand, withdraw the stem, and if rootlets have started, 

 put immediately in a pot of good garden earth, mixed with one-third its quan- 

 tity of sand. Press the soil firmly about this young plant, to the same height 

 as the sand reached before, cover with the bell glass again, and set in the shade 

 for a week, then set the glass aside and bring to the sunshine. It should bo 

 watered frequently, but only just enough to keep it from wilting. Early in 

 June, if it has grown too long, trim off the large branches, set it out doors in 



