TREES, EVERGREENS, AND SHRUBS. 39 



plant ivy out of pots. At that time there is no time lost ; 

 the bearded fibres Avill not wither by standing idle — they 

 cling at once to the wall, ' if ' — but few things come or go 

 without an ' if — there are two ifs here — if the new ivy is 

 watered thoroughly and liberally for the first two months, 

 and if the shoots are properly nailed. No matter how 

 long the shoot is, every inch of it ought to touch the sur- 

 face of the wall, and that can only be done by using four 

 times as many nails as would nail a grape vine of the same 

 length." 



It is no small additional recommendation of the ivy to 

 lovers of birds that it shelters them in winter, being 

 truly a 



" Harboui' of delight 

 For wren or redbreast, where they sit cooing 

 Their slender ditties when the trees are bare." 



However much our evergreens are valued, admired, and 

 enjoyed in winter, we begin to look eagerly forward in 

 spring to the budding of our shrubs, and who would not 

 feel the blank the removal of these would occasion? La- 

 burnums, lilacs, red and white hawthorns, may be classed, 

 perhaps, rather among trees than shrubs ; but, name them 

 as you will, they are still the chief ornaments of the shrub- 

 bery. The guelder rose and syringa are also old-fashioned 

 favourites ; all these stand their ground even against the 

 graceful Deutzchia scahra and rich Weigelia rosea. There 

 is a great difference in one year, as compared with another, 

 in the profusion of blossom borne by shrubs, and no one 

 who has not watched for the summer bloom can believe 



