282 



THE IVY. 



decisive : Ivy is another mischief incident to 

 trees, which has a good effect. It gives great 

 richness to an old trunk, both by its stem, which 

 winds round it in thick, hairy, irregular volumes ; 

 and by its leaf, which either decks the furrowed 

 bark, or creeps among the branches, or hangs 

 carelessly from them. In all these circumstances 

 it unites with the mosses and other furniture of 

 the tree in adorning and enriching it ; but when 

 it gathers into a heavy body, which is often the 

 case, it becomes rather a deformity. In autumn 

 I have seen a beautiful contrast between a bush 

 of Ivy, w^hich had completely invested a pollard 

 Oak, and the dark brown tint of the withered 

 leaves, which still held possession of the branches. 

 In the spring also we sometimes have a pleasing 

 appearance of a similar kind. About the end of 

 April, when the foliage of the Oak is just be- 

 ginning to expand, its varied tints are often 

 delightfully contrasted with the deep green of 

 an Ivy-bush, which has overspread the body and 

 larger limbs of the tree; and the contrast has been 

 still more beautiful, when the limbs are covered, 

 as we sometimes see them, with tufts of brimstone- 

 coloured moss [lichen]." 



The amiable author of the ^* Journal of a Na- 

 turalist," has the following pleasing remarks on 

 Ivy growing in another situation : — As a lover 

 of the lone Ivy-mantled ruin," he says, I have 

 often questioned with myself the cause and basis 

 of my regard for that which was but a fragment 

 of what might have been formerly splendid, and 

 intrinsically possessed but little to engage admi- 

 ration, yet wreathed in the verdure of the Ivy, 

 was admired; but was never satisfied, perhaps 



