1004 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



householder of taste may turn to a very good account. He has only to form 

 projecting architraves of wire to his windows, and to place a pot of ivy in 

 his window sills, or in a small balcony at the base of each jamb ; taking care to 

 fix the pots securely, and to make a provision for supplying them regularly with 

 water. In rooms, the ivy, when planted in boxes, and properly treated, forms 

 a rustic screen, either for excluding the light of the sun during the day, or 

 of a lamp or chandeher at night ; and, in very large drawingrooms, plants 

 in boxes or vases, trained on wire parasols or espaliers, such as those recom- 

 mended for roses (see^^.?. 5.34. and 535.), will form a rustic canopy for small 

 groups of parties, who may seat themselves under its shade, in the same 

 manner as parties sit under orange trees in the public rooms of Berlin, and 

 of other cities of the Continent. Where the view from the window of a town 

 house is contracted or disagreeable, it may always be improved by plants of 

 ivy, planted in boxes, and trained on espaliers, being placed within the room, 

 at a sufficient distance from the window to prevent them from excluding the 

 light, and yet sufficiently near to serve as a screen ; or, by so disposing of 

 plants on the outside as to conceal or disguise the disagreeable objects, and 

 create an allusion to the country. One great advantage of the ivy, in small 

 and suburban gardens, is, that by its berries it attracts the birds in early 

 spring ; and by its dense foliage it forms excellent situations for nests. A num- 

 ber of birds build in it, from the blackbird and thrush to the blackcap and the 

 sparrow, and even to the tomtit and wren. This plant is generally considered 

 as highly injurious to trees, where it has climbed up and covered their stems. 

 " The ivy," Gilpin observes, " has a root of his own, and draws nourishment 

 from the ground ; but his character is misrepresented, if his little feelers 

 have not other purposes than that of merely showing an attachment to his 

 potent neighbour. Shakspeare roundly asserts that he makes a property of 

 him: — 



' He was 



The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk. 

 And suclc'd my verdure out.' " 



Gilpin, For. Seen., i. p. 15. 



The injurious effect of the ivy on trees has, however, been denied by various 

 persons, and, among others, by Mr. Repton, who, in a paper on the subject in 

 the Lin. Trans., contends that it is useful, by keeping their trunks warm. 

 There can be no doubt but that, under certain circumstances, the warmth pro- 

 duced by a covering of ivy may be favourable to vegetation ; and, when its 

 stems ascend the trunk of a tree in parallel lines, without creeping or winding 

 round it, so as to form a kind of network over the bark, it may remain there 

 for a number of years without doing the tree any material injury. After a 

 certain period, however, a network never fails to be formed ; and, as the trunk 

 of the tree continues expanding, while this network remains stationary, the 

 tree cannot fail to receive injury by being compressed by the stems of the ivy. 

 Wherever this network is found on the smaller branches at the top of the 

 tree, the tree is certain of being killed in a short time. In this case, as in most 

 others, the opinions of the ancients and of modern foresters, both of which are 

 unfavourable to the ivy, will be found to be correct. We have already men- 

 tioned that ivy on the trunks of trees may easily be killed, by cutting through 

 its stems close to the ground ; in addition to which, its stems ought to be 

 pulled off, or loosened from the trunk and branches of the tree; but, in 

 deciding on this operation, "Evelyn's caution must not be forgotten, " that 

 trees long invested with it should not have it all at once removed, lest they 

 should die from exposure to unaccustomed cold." 



A variety of opinions prevail as to the use or injury of ivy on habitable 

 buildings. Where the walls are well built, and do not contain such crevices 

 as to admit of the fibrils becoming roots, and, of course, increasing in size, and 

 tending to rupture the masonry, the iv}' must be a protection to the wall from 

 the weather; and to the interior of the house, from the cold of winter and the 

 heat of summer. On ruins it must also be a protection, except in cases where 



