I fear the forester may be right when he strips the ivy off, lest it should strangle a young tree; but I am not writing for such, and must plead for and counsel a frequent use of this beautiful evergreen. When planted against a wall, it requires to be pruned every year in April, as, if allowed to attain to a luxuriant growth, it is apt to be torn off by the wind, and its root-like fibres, when once unfastened, will never cling again : there is no help for it; it must be cut down to where it is still adhering, and allowed to spring again from thence. But when ivy is allowed to grow freely on a tree, or over a paling, it is a much more beautiful object than when pruned down, and its bunches of grape-like fruit add to its ornamental appearance. Advantage might be taken of this climber, especially the Irish ivy, to plant out unsightly buildings, or to form a hedgelike screen, where such is required, by training it in the one case against a tall rough pole, and in the other against a few stakes, when it will run up and festoon with an evergreen garland the dead wood which supports it. In one of the pleasant papers in the Cottage Gardener, called "My Flowers," the authoress says - "I do not think the ivy is sufficiently considered as an ornament to the garden. Its rapid growth makes it invaluable where large buildings, or walls unfit for fruit trees, require to be covered; but it is equally useful as an embellishment among shrubs, particularly those which shed their leaves in winter. The dead stem of a tree, with its boughs left on a foot or two in length, clothed with ivy, is a beautiful object, standing in quiet stateliness among the lighter beauties of the shrubbery, with its dark, rich mass of foliage growing richer and handsomer as its neighbours sicken and die. When I first saw an ivy tree 1 was struck with its beauty and solemnity of look: it gave an appearance of age to the garden, which is also an advantage. Any stump, or rough pieces of wood nailed strongly together, will do to support this beautiful climber, which wraps itself thickly round its prop, and then hangs in waving masses, covered with its starry flowers on every side."

Ivy may also be used to cover the ground under trees, or on banks, where grass will not grow, forming a carpet of shining green at all seasons. It grows readily from cuttings, and after it has once taken root, it needs little looking after, though, like all other youngsters, it requires a little care and training at first starting, and it amply repays the trouble. The following hints on ivy culture are taken from a paper in the fourteenth volume of the Cottage Gardener: they will be found useful by those who wish to see this beautiful evergreen thrive; one of the many advantages of this plant being, that it is equally suitable and ornamental in a small garden as on a ruined tower, though, as Mr Beatoun says in this paper, it requires different treatment in those different situations:-

"To have ivy in good order, in dressed grounds, it should be cut every year about the end of April. The great beauty of ivy growing against a house, or on the walls, or on buildings about a garden, is to look as young at the end of a life-time as when the heir was born; but ivy covering an old ruin, or growing up round trees, is never in character if it looks young, or when it is young. . . . Without good management ivy is often a dangerous covering to some walls, indeed to most walls, as, if it is allowed to grow out naturally, on reaching the top of the wall the rain will beat against it, run down the branches, and reach the wall, then lodge in the mortar seams; this softens the mortar, the roots then get firmer hold of it, and from that time destruction goes on, deeper and deeper, by every succeeding shower, till the wall is a ruin. The other side of the picture shews the ivy leaves throwing off the wet from leaf to leaf, as the slate upon the roof, and all below the leaves is dry; the mortar is thus secured from the weather, and the face of the bricks or stone is so thickly covered by the roots of ivy, in addition to the covering of leaves, that the alternate actions of wet and dry, frost and fair weather, have little or no effect upon it. In short, there is nothing known to us which preserves buildings so effectually as well kept ivy; but it must be well kept from the beginning. It must have its yearly pruning, and that from the middle of April to the middle or end of May, according to the season. . . . Cuttings of ivy will succeed, with proper care,, if they are put in any day from the middle of September to the end of May. . . . There is no plant which pays better for good watering than ivy." The last hint I shall extract from this paper is upon planting out rooted plants of ivy, which may be from six to fifteen feet long; but the advice given here about close nailing of the plant is essential in all cases where ivy is wished to grow up rapidly. If merely planted at the foot of a wall and left to itself, it generally grows into a small stunted bush, or throws out its branches along the ground; it must have some assistance to give it a fair start in life, and that assistance is thus described by Mr Beatoun:- "I may observe in passing, that from the middle to the end of May is about the best time in the year to plant ivy out of pots. At that time there is no time lost; the bearded fibres will not wither by standing idle - they cling at once to the wall, ' if' - but few things come or go without an ' if - there are two ifs here - if the new ivy is watered thoroughly and liberally for the first two months, and if the shoots are properly nailed. No matter how long the shoot is, every inch of it ought to touch the surface of the wall, and that can only be done by using four times as many nails as would nail a grape vine of the same length."

It is no small additional recommendation of the ivy to lovers of birds that it shelters them in winter, being truly a "Harbour of delight For wren or redbreast, where they sit cooing Their slender ditties when the trees are bare."