70 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
readers (whether boys or girls), a few 
words may not be out of place. And to 
show what may be done in this direction, 
we give an engraving of a remarkable 
specimen of ivy, cultivated and trained in 
a peculiar manner, and which was among 
the floral marvels at the Paris Exhibition 
of 1867. At that time the plant had a 
straight clean stem more than 6 feet in i 
stem, the pots containing them would 
have to be set on the outside of the circle, 
and the plants trained over a canopy 
formed of wire or wood work. 
In training plants for bowers or hedges 
there are two points that specially de- 
mand attention. The first is cutting back 
or pruning. Most failures in hedge grow- 
ing are due to the fact that the owners are 
TEAINED IVY PLANT. 
height. The spread of the branches, when 
fully extended, would then have been be- 
tween 32 and 33 feet, but they were trained 
in an arching manner, as shown, so as to 
leave an opening in the interior of about 
23 feet in diameter. The branches were 
well furnished with leaves, and as the 
plant grew in a tub, it could be removed 
from place to place, and used as a pleas- 
ant summer-house. The facility of trans- 
portation was further increased by the 
fact that the branches were trained over 
wires, which could be folded up umbrella 
fashion. 
Many similar tents might be made with 
other kinds of plants, such as Virginian 
creeper, common kidney bean, hops, and 
other plants that grow much quicker than 
ivy, but in that case, instead of a central 
afraid to cut the plant back. After a plant 
has made a fine growth, and has attained 
a height of six or eight feet, it seems cruel 
to cut it down to the ground. And yet this 
is just what must be done if we would 
have a hedge which is close at the bottom 
and free from gaps. The reason of this 
is obvious. The tendency of all plant 
growth is to the extremities of the 
branches, and if this tendency is allowed 
to develop, all the strength of the i)lant 
is drawn away from the buds near the 
roots, and they consequently die out, 
leaving nothing but bare poles. To form 
a good hedge we must have innumerable 
small shoots springing from near the 
ground, and not a few strong branchless 
stems. 
The second point is that to enable the 
