309 



Fig. 137. 



THE IVY, AND ITS USES IN PARISIAN GARDENS. 



position. One sunny early summe r day, when the Ivy was 

 m its youthful green, I met with a shallow bower made of 

 it that pleased me very muc h. It was simply a great erect 

 shell of green not more than five or six feet deep, so that 

 the sun could freshen the inside into as deep a verdure as 

 the outer surface. 



The Ivy may be readily grown and tastefully used in a 

 dwelling-house. I once saw it growing inside the window 

 of a wme-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 Versail- 

 les, and, requir- 

 ing guidance, 

 chance to ask a 

 question at a 

 porter's little 

 lodge seen to the 

 left as you go to 

 the gardens, you 

 will be much in- 

 terested to see 

 what a deep in- 

 terest the fat porter and his wife take in Cactuses and 

 such plants, and what a nice collection of them they have 

 gathered together, but more so at the sumptuous sheet of 

 Ivy which hangs over from high above the mantelpiece. It 

 is 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 



Variegated Ivy in suspension basket. 



