210 COLLEGE GARDENS 



the prime of life, on the false assumption that it was 

 harming the masonry of the Great Tower. The roots of 

 the Ivy penetrated the vault of an adjoining wine-cellar, and, 

 after branching about in the sawdust in which the bottles lay, 

 made for a cork through which some moisture was oozing, 

 entered the bottle, drank up all the port, and then filled 

 the bottle entirely with a matted tangle of roots all growing 

 in search of more of the ambrosial liquor, but unable to 

 get through the glass ! 



The Roman poet understood ivy better than we do, when 

 he wrote : 



Tu tamen e sacris hederae cultoribus unum 



Numine debueras sustinuisse tuo. OVID, " Tristia," V. iii. 15.* 



Cur hedera cincta est ? hedera est gratissima Baccho. 



OVID, " Fasti," iii. 767. 



Repeated attempts were made to cut the Ivy down. In 

 1892 the then Bursar proposed it, but was outvoted. In 

 February, 1904, the House Bursar again asked the leave of 

 the College to cut it, but the Ivy was saved by 9 votes to 7. 

 At last, in November, 1908, the Waynflete Professors of 

 Physiology and Botany persuaded the College to have it re- 

 moved, and won their case by 15 votes to n. 



The Ivy was stripped from the Great Tower on what I 

 have always held to be a false accusation. The true one 

 has been stated. Ivy does no harm to a building so long 

 as the walls remain dry. It is when a feeling of moisture 

 encourages the plant to believe that there is more drink 

 behind, that damage is done to masonry. 



Ivy roots do not penetrate into well-built, dry walls. The 

 foliage, on the other hand, affords efficient protection against 

 the wet of a driving rain, and, more important still, against 



* For this reference I am indebted to Mr. Godley, who understands 

 the greater Classical poets even better than they understood the ivy. 



