THE IVY, 



293 



of healthy action in any transplanted tree), they 

 will soon recover ; for it appears that the bushy 

 branches, when once formed, never revert to the 

 habit of the young plant. 



The principal use of Ivy is that already 

 mentioned, namely, of covering the walls of build- 

 ings. Planted against the side of a house, 

 where there are no windows, it is not only 

 ornamental, but keeps out heat in summer, 

 and cold in winter; but when it climbs round 

 windows, it is likely to be the means of intro- 

 ducing earwigs and other insects into the house. 

 The variety called Irish Ivy, which has large 

 leaves, and grows rapidly, is the best adapted 

 for covering masonry. 



The leaves and tender branches are eaten by 

 sheep and deer in times of scarcity. The wood 

 is soft and porous, and when cut into thin slices 

 is used in filtering liquids. The roots are em- 

 ployed by leather-cutters to sharpen their knives 

 on. A fragrant resin exudes from the old stems 

 if wounded, which, Walton says, makes bait at- 

 tractive to fish. A substance called hederine 

 may be extracted from this, which in India is 

 used as a medicine. 



The largest plants of Ivy recorded by Loudon 

 as growing in England are at Brockley Hall in 

 Somersetshire, attached to old trees ; one of these 

 has a stem nearly eleven inches in diameter, an- 

 other, nearly twelve inches ; another, yet more 

 remarkable one, at Morpeth, grows out of a crevice 

 in a rough stone wall by a cottage, which at the 

 height of nine feet from the ground is one foot 

 seven inches and a half in girth. De CandoUe 

 speaks of another at Gigean near Montpelier, 



