Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



to which artificial culture has added many fine varieties. 

 One of the commonest and, comparatively speaking, 

 coarsest is the nine-bark, that grows fi-eely in damp 

 localities, and gets its name from its peculiar bark that 

 peels off in numerous thin layers, much as in the grape- 

 vine. Some writers speak slightingly of it, others rec- 

 ognize its worth, and it is widely planted in the Park 

 with excellent effect. Some plants, like the diminu- 

 tive Deiitzia gracilis, are for the closest scrutiny, others 

 are for longer perspective; and, with its multitudinous 

 globes of small white flowers, enveloping a shrub of sub- 

 stantial size and strong foliage, this nine-bark is in 

 many situations quite as satisfactory as the more refined 

 sorts ; its variety, aurea, has yellow leaves, and mingles 

 finely with other foliage. The countless clusters of 

 ripened pistils assume so deep a red that one sometimes 

 mistakes them, at a distance, for a mass of inflorescence. 

 Still humbler sorts of spiraea are the meadow-sweet 

 and hardback, abundant on open, sterile ground, which 

 greatly cheapens their real worth ; if they were tender 

 plants, and named '' japonica," they would be admitted 

 to the lawn and garden. The most prized spiraeas, some 

 with white, others with pink or crimson flowers, come 

 from abroad — and here again China and Japan take the 

 lead — a few showing beautiful variegations of foliage 

 late in the season. Some spiraeas blossom early, others 

 late, the many species affording continuous bloom from 

 early spring to the end of summer. The profusion and 

 graceful arrangement of its flowers, with its easy culti- 

 vation and hardiness, has given this section of the rose 

 family a wide popularity. 



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