58 
NATURE NOTES 
apart, planted too ivy plants amongst them and left them to grow together, the 
result would be confusion, the trees would be throttled and distorted, and never 
grow to any sort of perfection. 
I think, then, we may say that ivy, in its proper place, is not only pleasant to 
the eye, but it is also useful. When planted against trees, it should, generally 
speaking, be against those that are aged, or at least of mature growth. In a forest 
where trees are grown for profit, ivy is a nuisance, and must be exterminated. 
There are other climbing plants much more hurtful to trees than ivy, but these 
are fortunately not so common in Britain. 
MoHtreux, Fehrtiary 9, 1901. Giles A. Daubenv. 
My experience is that a really healthy tree and a luxuriant, unchecked 
growth of ivy are incompatible. One or the other, the ivy or the prop, must be 
.sacrificed. I quite fail to understand how any tree “ smothered in ivy ” can 
maintain its normal health. Nothing is more essential for the development of 
leaves than an uninterrupted supply of light and air, and in the case supposed 
both light and air are appropriated by the masses of ivy covering the boughs, 
there is none left for the prop. I do not deny that an ivy-smothered tree may 
live for a very considerable period, but I suspect that the enormous length of time 
necessary for properly testing this question has led to hasty generalisation. Take 
two healthy trees of twenty years’ growth, plant ivy against one and let it grow 
till all the boughs of the tree are smothered in it. Because in another twenty 
years’ time this tree is apparently as strong and healthy as the other one which is 
destitute of ivy, you are not justified in assuming that this is really the case : give 
them another forty years, and I suspect that your verdict will go against the ivy. 
To buildings ivy, when allowed to ramp at will, is even more fatal than to 
trees. It effectually conceals any architectural features, and, what is worse, it 
slowly and surely destroys the masonry. From any structure that is of any 
higher interest or value than to serve as an ivy-prop, this pernicious and insidious 
weed should be most Jealously banished. Nothing but the solid strength of our 
ruined castles and abbeys has enabled them to resist its ravages so long. But we 
thoroughly understand the art of destroying ancient monuments : we make them 
over to the ivy and — let them alone. 
Begbroke, February 7. H. A. E. 
Mr. Kooper’s courteous castigation leaves me unconvinced and impenitent. 
It does not follow, I think, that no harm has been done because we may 
not be able to explain the manner in which it is done. I am not convinced 
that it is no more strain on the soil to support the tree plus the ivy than to 
support the tree alone. On one point I can speak from experience. I once 
cut down a holly round which, at one point, the ivy had taken a turn, and 
then stiffened in position so as to leave a mark as if a thick iron ring had been 
there. To the imputation of “having much to answer for,” I demur entirely. 
Ivy is not a rare bird or animal which strays into one’s grounds and gets trapped 
or shot by some “ stupid, ignorant, miserable person,” some “ fool or idiot ” like 
those whom Mr. Collier denounces with such refreshing vigour. I do not think 
I am bound to grow ivy to please other people, any more than I am bound to 
keep peacocks that passers-by may admire their tails. The locus classicus, as 
used to be said in our college days, on the ivy, describes it as “ creeping o’er 
ruins old,” “ aye creeping where no life is seen,” &c. I would not only say, 
“ By all means let it so creep ” ; but also, “ Let my neighbours keep both their 
peacocks and their ivy.” If I have the bad taste to dislike the peacock’s screech, 
if I even think a mass of ivy no more an ornament to a thriving, well-grown tree 
than a poncho (however prettily striped) would be to the Belvedere Apollo, I 
think I am entitled to hold both opinions in peace. 
F. M. Millard. 
Natural History in Fiction ; and Fiction in Natural History. 
— I feel sure that some Selbornian with a wider acquaintance with works of 
fiction than I possess could write an amusing and informing paper on this subject. 
I myself can offer no more than a hint or two. 
