598 VINES AND CREEPERS. 



such masses .of verdure as in the British islands. In cities, on 

 north walls, and sheltered corners of church towers and buttresses, 

 it occasionally mounts and covers them, suggesting the beauty for 

 which it is renowned in the moist mild climate of England ; but 

 these instances are exceptional in the northern States. 



It is believed that all the varieties of the ivy may be grown as 

 shrubs, and become quite valuable on account of the unusual 

 purity of color of their evergreen foliage throughout the year. By 

 planting an elm-post, say four feet above the surface of the ground, 

 and ivies at the foot of it, they will cling to the post, and can be 

 protected upon it for a few years in winter with straw. After they 

 are well rooted, and form a mass several feet in thickness around 

 the post, they will not need further protection in most parts of the 

 northern States. No vine we have is so well adapted to cover the 

 trunks of old dead trees which have had their tops cut off. 



The varieties do not vary widely. THE ENGLISH Ivy is known 

 as H. vulgaris. The IRISH IVY, H. canarienses, has a leaf a little 

 larger. This is the variety most planted in this country, and usually 

 considered the hardiest. Then there are the GOLD-STRIPED, H. 

 folds auras, the SILVER-STRIPED, H. folds argenteis, the GIANT- 

 LEAVED, H. ragneriana, and numerous others with some mark of 

 difference from the normal form. 



THE POISON IVY, Rhus toxicodendron, is also a beautiful native 

 creeping shrub with fine glossy leaves, but the plant is a fearful 

 poison to some persons, and should not be allowed to grow in 

 settled neighborhoods. It may be readily distinguished from the 

 Virginia creeper when in leaf by its three instead of five leaflets, 

 and by their smooth edges ; the Virginia creeper having strongly 

 serrate leaves. Its wood is somewhat stronger and more stubby 

 than that of the latter, and when the vine is attached to trees it 

 sends out stiff shoots like branches, which do not fall gracefully 

 like those of the Virginia creeper. 



THE GRAPE-VINE. Vitis. No intelligent person needs to be 

 reminded that grape-vines are among the most beautiful as well as 

 valuable of climbers. There is much difference in the habitual 



