CLIMBEES AND THEIR USES. 199 



In everything pertaining to the arrangment of trees, 

 shrubs and plants, there is room for the exercise of a 

 great deal of knowledge, taste and skill. As canvas, 

 brushes and paints do not in themselves make the paint- 

 er, so it cannot be expected that inexperience and lack of 

 close acquaintance with kinds, will accomplish as good 

 results in garden arrangment as arise from the labors of 

 the trained arboriculturist and landscape gardener. Still, 

 where the number to be planted is limited, and close 

 attention is given to selections, being guided by descrip- 

 tions, and then with proper forethought as to the arrange- 

 ment, there need be little fear of really bad results. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

 CLIMBERS AND THEIR USES. 



The value of the climbing and twining plants is en- 

 titled to higher appreciation than it now receives from 

 Americans. In Europe they are used more freely than 

 with us. The adaptability of the hardy Ivy to the Eu- 

 ropean climate, and its common use for ages, for mant- 

 ling the walls of castles and kirks, may have had much 

 to do with cultivating in Europeans a love for climbers. 

 The Ivy, however, is by no means used exclusively 

 abroad. As a climber of free habits, our own Virginia 

 Creeper seems to find preference over it for most ordi- 

 nary purposes, and in many respects it is greatly its 

 superior. * 



The adaptability of climbers is perhaps without equal 

 among plants. Rarely can a building be found, even in 

 the heart of a city, and where there is no room for 

 shrubs or grass, that may not be gracefully adorned with 



