308 THE ivr, AND ITS USES IN PARISIAN GAKDENS. 



sheet of green is allowed to spread out to a breadth of from 

 fifteen to eighteen inches. Then its rich verdure may be 

 seen to full advantage. It must of course be kept within 

 straight lines if the garden be symmetrical : if it be a 

 natural kind of garden^ you may let it have its own wild 

 way to some extent. In nearly every courtyard in Paris 

 the Ivy is tastefully used. I do not think I ever saw the 

 scarlet Pelargonium to so great advantage as in deep long 

 boxes placed against a wall densely covered with it^ and with 

 Ivy planted also along their front edge^ so as to hang down 

 and cover the face of the boxes. One of the best known of 

 the floating baths on the Seine has a sort of open air 

 waiting-room immediately outside its entrance — a space 



gurgling rapidly beneath. This is secured by placing 

 deep boxes filled with very rich light soil here and there on 

 the bare space ; then planting the Ivy at the ends of each box 

 and devoting the remainder of the space to flowers^ keeping 

 the soil well watered^ and training the shoots of the Ivy 

 to a neat light trellis overhead. 



In the garden of the Exposition a pretty circular bower 

 was shown perfectly covered with it, the whole springing 

 from a tub. Imagine an immense green umbrella with the 

 handle inserted in a tub of good soil, boards placed over 

 this tub, so as to make a circular seat of it, and you will 

 understand it in a moment. That and the like could of 

 course be readily made on a roof, wide balcony, or any such 



Fig. 136. 



made by planks, and 

 communicating with 

 the quay by a gangway. 

 On this space there are 

 seats placed around, on 

 which in summer people 

 may sit and wait for 

 their turn if so dis- 

 posed, while the whole 

 is elegantly embow- 



Section of circular bower formed of a single 

 plant of the Irish Ivy grown in a tub. 



ered with Ivy, which 

 looks as much at home 

 as if the river was not 



