CLIMBERS 211 



up a consensus of opinion or public taste. And better still, certain 

 principles have been evolved. 



The first principle is that good architecture should never be 

 obscured, and, conversely, bad architecture should be not only hidden 

 but transmuted into beauty. Thus, on good architecture we 

 should use climbers that are slender and decorative, not ram- 

 pant or commonplace. Good ornamentation will be hidden by 

 Japan ivy. Nice proportion will be obscured by Virginia creeper. 

 Hall's honeysuckle is too commonplace in leaf for walls of classic 

 beauty. On the other hand, the leaf form of the grape is of 

 undying charm. Every kind of clematis is light, airy, graceful. 

 The Crimson Rambler is too gaudy, but the memorial rose is 

 sufficiently slender and decorative. 



Now let us take the case of bad architecture. Japan ivy will 

 hide more ugliness than anything in the world except charity 

 for it will cover a brick tenement six stories high. But, please 

 notice that Japan ivy and all other close-clinging climbers outline 

 the object they cover and have no power to transmute ugly lines into 

 beautiful masses, as the loose-hanging climbers do. A useless cupola 

 or "fake" balcony may be mercifully softened by Virginia creeper 

 but excrescences and bad lines are accentuated by English or 

 Japanese ivy. 



The next question is whether the house is of wood, brick, or 

 stone. If it is of wood it is sheer folly to use the wood-destroying 

 climbers. English and Japanese ivy and the climbing euonymus 

 send out roots from the stem and these make the wood rot. Wis- 

 taria is the boa-constrictor among plants, weakening pillars and 

 prying off shingles. So, too, does the trumpet creeper. All 

 other climbers are safe, provided we do not let them grow directly 

 on the wooden walls. 



