

L PKEFATOKY OBSEKVATIONS. 



The sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, the hills and the plains 

 Are not these, Soul, the Vision of Him who reigns?" 



TENNYSON'S " HIGHER PANTHEISM." 



HE object of the present work is to present 

 to public notice a few particulars of the 

 history, habits, and uses of that well-known 

 plant, the IVY. The author has, for some 

 fifteen or more years past, given especial 

 attention to this subject, and has by various 

 means, such as ivy-hunting in the woods, 

 purchase from gardens, and the practice of 

 cross-breeding, obtained upwards of two hun- 

 dred varieties of the plant, many of them 

 presenting the most diverse characteristics, 

 and maintaining those characteristics when 

 subjected for a considerable length of time 

 to cultivation. For the purposes of this 

 work, a selection has been made of the most 

 distinct and beautiful varieties, including only 



such as have proved to be constant, and apparently worthy to be named and 

 cultivated. 



In inviting attention to the varieties figured and described in the following 

 pages, it is a pleasure to be enabled to announce that a considerable proportion 7 

 of them are known in nursery gardens, and may be obtained in the usual way ^ 

 as articles of trade. It was with the view, chiefly, of improving the trade ^5 

 collections that, in the year 1869, the author sold to Mr. Charles Turner, of 

 the Royal Nurseries, Slough, examples of fifty of the most distinct garden 



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