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MY GERMAN IVY. 
Last winter a friend gave me a cutting of German 
Ivy that was kept in the cellar with my other plants 
until spring. When removed to the air and sunshine 
of the outer world, it had two or three little frail 
branches with a few scattering leaves not larger than 
a twenty-five cent piece, and was a forlorn hope for 
the magnificent specimen of which I have read, being 
trained around a room or festooning a window. I 
removed the soil, and filled the pot with rich, black 
mold, taken from a lot that had been used as a wood- 
pile and a cow-pen for several years, and 
gave it, the Ivy, a little frame about 
three feet high, so that if it felt disposed 
to climb, it might have the opportunity 
of doing so. In a few 
days it accepted the in¬ 
vitation, and sent out 
four vigorous young 
branches that soon 
climbed to the top of the 
frame, and as it seemed 
too ambitious, I moved 
the pot up to the side¬ 
light on the front veran¬ 
da, tacking up small 
cords to support it. Its 
grow'th was really aston¬ 
ishing; in a few weeks 
it had reached to the top 
of the door. We arched 
it over the transom and 
across the door, but when 
it reached the parallel 
cords, it would not twine 
around them of its own 
free will, but had a habit 
of growing downward, as 
if its ambitious spirit 
wearied of its lofty flight 
and yearned to touch 
mother earth again, and 
my little boy (nearly six 
feet high), had to mount 
a table, with a chair on 
it, to train it in the way 
it should go, and he often 
complained of its grow¬ 
ing so fast; every two 
or three days he would 
have to mount the table 
and chair to train the 
delicate branches and 
prevent them from being 
cut off when the door 
was closed. By the op¬ 
posite side-light I placed 
another pot containing 
several Cypress vines. When the Ivy reached the 
Cypress pot in its downward flight, it measured, each 
of the four branches, twenty-eight feet, hut I dare say, 
before frost, it was forty or fifty feet long, for after it 
reached the top of the door in its second flight, we 
allowed it to follow its own truant will, and it leaped 
from cord to cord over the transom, mingling its luxu¬ 
riant leaves, which were larger in circumference than 
a pint cup, with the delicate fringed foliage of the 
Cypress, all studded with the crimson stars, and made 
of my front door a perfect arbor, which was the 
admiration of all who beheld it. So simple, so inex¬ 
pensive, yet so beautiful. No Corinthian column, no 
Arabian arabesque ever equaled its graceful festoons. 
When frost came, sometime in October, with many 
sighs and regrets we cut the Ivy off at the top of the 
little frame and carried the pot in the house, leaving 
the vines hanging over the door, thinking they might 
remain green and fresh for a few days, hut to my 
When the cold days came, not having a greenhouse or 
pit, or even a cellar to put them in (they were kept in 
a neighbor’s cellar last year, and I did not like to trou¬ 
ble her with them again), we could not see them all 
die without making an effort to save at least a few of 
them, and my same little boy, who is fond of flowers 
as I am, made a frame of laths, three sides of which 
we covered with paper, leaving the front and top open, 
intending, when freezing weather came, to cover them 
also with paper. Under this frame we put our favor¬ 
ite HowersjThe Ivy being among them. It still con¬ 
tinues growing, and has twined all over the frame, 
making a miniature bower of it, and is as handsome an 
ornament for our sitting-room in the winter as it was 
for the veranda in summer. L. 
Bouquet of Ornamental Grasses. 
astonishment they scarcely seemed to miss their roots, 
and although the door is due north, and they had very 
little protection from the cold winds, in December they 
put forth abundant clusters of yellow flowers. The 
severe weather we have had recently has withered the 
leaves somewhat, hut at this present writing (Jan. 10), 
the flowers are as fresh as ever. I counted one cluster 
just now that contained fifty-four delicate fringe flow¬ 
ers, looking more like a bunch of little yellow tassels 
than anything else. But that is not all of my Ivy. 
Vines For Window Garden¬ 
ing.—The following kinds of plants, 
says the Country Gentleman , can he 
easily cultivated and 
grown in a room not 
heated more than just to 
keep out frost: For 
vines to grow in pots and 
twine along the inside 
casing of the window, 
take the Russian and Gi¬ 
ant Ivies; for the bord¬ 
ers of pots or boxes, 
take the different varie¬ 
ties of Seduins—the cat¬ 
alogues will tell you of 
the colors. Again, as a 
climber, or trained en 
masse in the center, take 
Ampelopsis V e i t ch i i, 
which is a miniature fo- 
liaged variety of our well- 
known, hardy Virginia 
Creeper. Akebia qui- 
lata is another rapid¬ 
growing vine, of neat fo¬ 
liage and large clusters 
of chocolate, purple-col¬ 
ored flowers, deliciously 
fragrant. Anemone ja- 
ponica nigra and alba, 
are plants beautiful for 
pots in winter, being 
nearly hardy and pro¬ 
ducing abundance of 
flowers. And that a 
pretty ornament for the 
sitting - room may he 
formed by taking large 
pine burs and sprinkling 
grass-seed of any kind in 
them, and then place 
them in a pot of water. 
When the bur has soak¬ 
ed a few days, it will close 
up to the form of solid 
cones. Soon after, the little spears of grass will begin 
to emerge from among the laminae, forming a beauti- 
! ful hanging ornament. 
Take about twenty wheat ears, with two or three 
inches of the straw; tie them together, hang them up 
in a warm place, keep them sprinkled with water, and 
when they commence to sprout, put them in a celery 
glass with water; the top will soon become a perfect 
pyramid of verdure, and will retain its beauty for sev- 
1 eral weeks. 
