VIIL] MUHLENBECKIA TREATMENT OF IVY 99 



year in the month of April. The buds are just then 

 beginning their growth, and all traces of the knife or 

 shears will have disappeared within a very few weeks.* 



If there were no other reason for cutting Ivy close in 

 this way in the spring, there is this great advantage, that 

 it avoids the nuisance of constant litter from the old 

 leaves, which otherwise keep dropping off for the greater 

 part of the summer ; it also drives the sparrows into 

 other quarters. 



Fortunately, Ivy is one of those things which thrives 

 under almost all conditions. There is no excuse for 

 bare walls and unsightly corners these have only to 

 be furnished with a few old roots and blocks, over 

 which our native Ivy soon climbs ; they may be com- 

 pletely covered in one or two seasons. If a strong plant 

 be put into some rich earth at one end of a wall, and 

 carefully run up for 10 or 12 feet, then unfastened and 

 laid along the whole length of the base and firmly 

 covered with soil, each bud will presently climb up, and 

 there will soon be a sheet of green Ivy over the whole 

 surface. Such a covering tends to make the structure 

 on which it grows very dry ; it has, in fact, most of the 

 advantages, without the drawbacks, of the old-fashioned 

 and unsightly weather-slating. It should, however, never 

 be allowed to run so wild as to afford a covert for birds 



* Some gardeners prefer a July clipping for these reasons : (i) 

 It can be done more easily, the growth being young. (2) The 

 growth which follows is small and neat, so that it is close all the 

 winter. (3) July is a comparatively idle time for the men on the 

 farm and in the garden. 



