314 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



The fine contrasts between the dark coloring of the 

 leaves of the Ivy, and the vernal and autumnal tints of 

 the foliage of deciduous trees, are also highly pleasing. 

 Indeed this fine climbing plant may be turned to advantage 

 in another way ; in reclothing dead trees with verdure. 

 Sir T. D. Lauder says, that " trees often die from causes 

 which we cannot divine, and there is no one who is 

 master of extensive woods, who does not meet with many 

 such instances of unexpected and unaccountable mortality. 

 Of such dead individuals we have often availed ourselves, 

 and by planting Ivy at their roots, we have converted 

 them into more beautiful objects than they were when 

 arrayed in their own natural foliage." 



The Ivy is not only ornamental upon trees, but it is 

 also remarkably well adapted to ornament cottages, and 

 even large mansions, when allowed to grow upon the 

 walls, to which it will attach itself so firmly by the little 

 rootlets sent out from the branches, that it is almost 

 impossible to tear it oft'. On wooden buildings, it may 

 perhaps be injurious, by causing them to decay ; but on 

 stone buildings, it fastens itself firmly, and holds both 

 stone and mortar together like a coat of cement. The 

 thick garniture of foliage with which it covers the surface, 

 excludes stormy weather, and has, therefore, a tendency 

 to preserve the walls, rather than accelerate their decay. 

 This vine is the inseparable accompaniment of the old 

 feudal castles and crumbling towers of Europe, and 

 borrows a great additional interest from the romance 

 and historical recollections connected with such spots. 

 Indeed half the interest, picturesque as well as poetical, 

 of those time-worn buildings, is conferred by this plant, 

 which seeks to bind together and adorn with something 



