38 THE CHRONICLES OF A GARDEN. 



the wall, then lodge in the mortar seams ; this softens the 

 mortar, the roots then get firmer hold of it, and from that 

 time destruction goes on, deeper and deei:)er, by every suc- 

 ceeding shower, till the wall is a ruin. The other side of 

 the picture shews the ivy leaves throwing off the wet from 

 leaf to leaf, as the slate upon the roof, and all below the 

 leaves is dry ; the mortar is thus secured from the weather, 

 and the face of the bricks or stone is so thickly covered by 

 the roots of ivy, in addition to the covering of leaves, that 

 the alternate actions of wet and dry, frost and fair weather, 

 have little or no effect upon it. In short, there is nothing 

 known to us which preserves buildings so effectually as 

 well kept ivy ; but it must he ivell kept from the beginning. 

 It must have its yearly pruning, and that from the middle 

 of April to the middle or end of May, according to the sea- 

 son, . . . Cuttings of ivy will succeed, ivith proper care, if 

 they are put in any day from the middle of September to the 

 end of May. . . . There is no plant which pays better for 

 good watering than ivy." The last hint I shall extract from 

 this paper is upon planting out rooted plants of ivy, which 

 may be from six to fifteen feet long ; but the advice given 

 here about close nailing of the plant is essential in all cases 

 where ivy is wished to grow up rapidly. If merely planted 

 at the foot of a wall and left to itself, it generally grows 

 into a small stunted bush, or throws out its branches along 

 the ground ; it must have some assistance to give it a fair 

 start in life, and that assistance is thus described by Mr 

 Beatoun : — " I may observe in passing, that from the middle 

 to the end of May is about the best time in the year to 



