08 



KID1VS OWN JOURNAL. 



Whose aged walls the ivy creeps, 

 And with her arras from falling keeps : 

 So, both a safety from the wind 

 In mutual dependence find. 



There can be no doubt as to the real source 

 from whence ivy draws life and vigor ; from 

 the ground alone its maintenance proceeds. 

 To be convinced of this, we have only to in- 

 spect it n irrowly on a living tree, and then pay 

 the sa ne attention to it upon a dead one, or 

 upon any stump deprived of vitality. Be 

 our eye as keen as that of the lynx, we shall 

 not be able to perceive that the one plant is 

 more healthy, more vigorous, or more verdant 

 than the other; and if we cut through the stock 

 of the ivy in either situation we shall see that 

 its upper parts will wither and die, down to 

 the place through which the knife has 

 passed. 



Some few years ago, a tall sycamore tree 

 stood on this island, in a row with four others. 

 A remnant of its once line bole still occupies 

 the place which the tree adorned in the days 

 of its prosperity. An unexpected appearance 

 of fungus showed that all was not right 

 within ; and, ere long, a gale of wind cut 

 the tree nearly in two, sending its head and 

 all its branches (saving one), with a colony 

 of young jackdaws, down into the lake below. 

 The remaining portion of the tree, spared by 

 the gale, put out new shoots from every 

 part of its circumference. But scarcely had 

 these vegetated for four succeeding summers, 

 when another immense fungus made its 

 appearance about two yards from the trun- 

 cated top, and ail vegetation ceased that year, 

 down to the part where the fungus had come 

 out. Below this, the trunk was still alive ; 

 but another fungus, of equal dimensions with 

 the last, showed itself about live feet from 

 the ground, and deprived the bole of all vege- 

 tation upwards. 



At length this sickly remnant of the 

 sycamore tree received its final doom ; for, 

 some time since, a \ast profusion of fungus 

 pushed up its circular cakes even from below 

 the surface of the ground ; and on their 

 coming to muturity all the living powers 

 within this ill-treated tree expired. The 

 bole now stands a dead and unproductive 

 stump. Any day, a north-west wind, sweep- 

 ing across the water, may lay it low for ever. 

 Did the ivy, which 1 had planted at the base 

 many years ago, depend upon this bole for 

 succor, it would now be dead and withered ; 

 but, on the contrary, that remaining part of 

 it, free from mutilation when the different 

 portions of the tree fell down, is now in 

 verdure, and in primest vigor ; but as it 

 has no longer an opportunity of creeping 

 upwards, on account of the misfortunes 

 which have befallen the tree, it has assumed 

 the form of a bush, with dense and widely- 

 spreading foliage. 



An opinion prevails, that ivy not only 

 deforms the branch to which it adheres, but 

 that it is injurious to the growth of the 

 timber itself. My wish for the preservation 

 and maintenance of birds urges me on to 

 attempt the defence of my favorite plant on 

 these two important points. 



The ivy which I planted many years ago 

 has now obtained a most luxuriant growth ; 

 and, if I may judge by what I see before my 

 eyes, I must conclude that ivy is in no way 

 detrimental to the tree which has lent it a 

 support. Having given ivy to many trees, 

 and refused it to others in the immediate 

 vicinity, and on the same soil, in order to 

 have a good opportunity of making a fair 

 examination, I find, upon minute inspection 

 of these several trees, that they are all of tine 

 growth, and in a most healthy state ; those 

 with ivy on them, and those without it, not 

 varying from each other in appearance more 

 than ordinary groups of forest trees are wont 

 to do. Neither is this to be wondered at, 

 when we reflect that the ivy has its roots in 

 the ground itself, and that it does not ascend 

 in spiral progress round the bole and branches 

 of the tree ; its leading shoot is perpendicular. 

 Hence it is not in a position to compress in- 

 juriously the expansive powers of the tree, 

 proportionally stronger than its own. Thus 

 we find that the ivy gradually gives way be- 

 fore them; so that, on removing the network 

 (if it may be so called) which the ivy has 

 formed on the bole of the tree, we find no 

 indentations there. 



But woodbine acts the reverse of this. Its 

 process is spiral, and it becomes, as it were, 

 an immovable hoop on the plant which it has 

 embraced. As the woodbine, by its circum- 

 ambient position cannot give way, the plant 

 must consequently protrude wherever it is not 

 compressed, till at last the woodbine becomes 

 nearly buried in it. Thus we account for the 

 fantastic form of walking-sticks, which are 

 often to be seen at the shop doors of curious 

 vendors. The spiral hollows in these sticks 

 are always formed by the woodbine, never 

 by the ivy. 



Having the workings of the ivy,and those of 

 the woodbine daily before my eyes, I venture, 

 without wishing to impugn the opinions of 

 others, to assert that the latter is injurious, 

 and the former not injurious to the plant 

 which it has embraced ; and this, by position 

 alone ; for, both having their own roots in the 

 ground, their nutriment is amply supplied 

 from that quarter. 



Ivy, when planted on the eastern part of a 

 tree which grows in a high and very exposed 

 situation, can scarcely ever reach the opposite 

 portion of it, on account of the resistance 

 which it meets from the western blast. But 

 it will grow well when placed on the western 

 side itself ; for, in this position, the west wind 



