THE IVY. 



75 



grow well, when placed on the western side it- 

 self; for in this position the west wind presses 

 it to the bark of the tree, and thus becomes its 

 friend. I have a fair example of this in my 

 own park. On a bleak brow, there stands 

 the hollow remnant of an oak, which, in the 

 days of its prosperity, measured full twenty 

 feet in circumference. Fourteen years ago, I 

 planted ivy on its eastern side. But to this 

 day, that portion of the bole facing the west 

 remains uncovered by the ivy, which, in its 

 annual attempt to surmount the difficulty, is 

 arrested in its course, and ultimately driven 

 back by the fury of the western gales. 



If we wish to see ivy growing in all the lux- 

 uriance of health and beauty, we must plant it 

 at the root of some tall Scotch fir, in a low and 

 sheltered situation. Nothing can be more 

 charming or lovely to the sight, than the widely- 

 extending mass of verdure with which it will 

 clothe the bole of the tree. I have a Scotch fir 

 here with ivy round it quite worthy the in- 

 spection of poor Charley Stuart himself, were 

 he still amongst us. The ivy sends its hori- 

 zontal branches out from the bole to a distance 

 of six or seven feet in vast profusion, and its 



