272 The Wild Garden 



barking the little trees, and in hard winters even kilUng 

 many old trees. 



Notwithstanding the many conifers brought from 

 other countries within the past few generations, it is 

 very doubtful if as regards beauty, more than one or 

 two equal our native Fir, which when old is so fine in 

 its stem and head. Few things in our country are more 

 picturesque than old groups and groves of the Scotch 

 Fir ; few indeed of the conifers we treasure from other 

 countries will ever give us anything so good as the 

 ruddy stems and frost-proof crests of this northern and 

 British tree. 



Again, the best of evergreen climbers is our native 

 Ivy, and the many beautiful forms allied to it or that 

 have arisen from it. Ivy in our woods arranges 

 its own beautiful effects, but in gardens it might be 

 made more delightful use of. The form most com- 

 monly used in Britain — the Irish Ivy — is by no means 

 so graceful as some others, and there are a great 

 number of delightful forms varying in form and even 

 in colour. These for edgings, banks, forming screens, 

 covering old trees, and forming summer-houses should 

 be made far larger use of. In many northern countries 

 our Ivy will not live in the open air, and it is so common 

 with us, that we rarely take advantage of our privileges 

 in such a possession in making bold shelters, wreaths, 

 and many beautiful things of it that would need little 

 care. It requires care in trimming when on our houses 

 and on cottage roofs ; but there are many pretty things 



