THE PLANTING OF IVY AGAINST THE TRUNKS OF TREES.
FTo TeX EDITOR Or TUX "SrNCTATOR.1 SIR,—The author of the article in your issue of February 6th on " The Charm of London" gives full credit to the parks for the share which they contribute thereto. Will you permit me through the medium of your widely read paper to plead the cause of the trees in those parks P I want to call attention to the wonderful ignorance which is displayed by the authorities responsible for planting ivy against the trunks of some of the finest trees in Hyde Park. Any one with the most rudi- mentary knowledge of the conditions necessary for the healthy life of a tree is aware that to choke the bark, its breathing apparatus, by such a process is certain death to the tree. Some of the finest plane-trees at Hyde Park Corner and Albert Gate have been victimised in this manner (effectually hindering the shedding of the bark, which is the reason this Species grows so well and rapidly in our smoke-laden atmosphere); also some elms on the bridge at the head!of the Serpentine have been treated in the same way. If ivy must be planted, why not let it clothe the limbless trunks of some of the numerous old elms where life is already practically extinct ? Deliberately to plant it against the trunk of a healthy tree is a folly which will surely be remedied as soon as
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