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 freely 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 Deutzia 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 spirzea are the meadow-sweet 
and hardhack, 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 spirzas, 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 spirzeas 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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