JVotcs aud Gleanings. 



Ill 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS FROM FOREIGN EXCHANGES. 



Decorative Uses of the Ivy. — The ivy may be readily grown and taste- 

 fully used in a dwelling-house. I once saw it growing inside the window of a 

 wine shop in an obscure part of Paris, and on going in found it planted in a rough 

 box against the wall, up which it had crept, and was going about apparently as 

 carelessly as if in a wood. If you happen to be in the great court at Versailles, 

 and, requiring guidance, chance to ask a cjuestion at a porter's little lodge seen 

 to the left as you go to the gardens, you will be much interested to see what a 

 deep interest the fat porter and his wife take in cactuses and such plants, and 

 wliat a nice collection of them they have gathered together, but more so at the 

 sumptuous sheet of ivy which han^s over from high above the mantel-piece. It is 



VARIEGATED IVY IN HANGING BASKET. 



planted in a box in a deep recess, and tumbles out its abundant tresses almost as 

 richly as if depending from a Kerry rock. The ivy is also used to a great extent 

 to make living screens for drawing-rooms and saloons, and often with a very 

 tasteful result. This is usually done by planting it in narrow boxes, and training 

 it up wire- work trellises, so that, with a few of such, a living screen may be formed 

 in any desired part of a room in a few minutes. Sometimes it is permanently 

 planted ; and in one instance I saw it beautifully used to embellish crystal par- 

 titions between large apartments. 



Robinson'' s Parks, Pronietiades, and Gardens of Paris. 



