26 SOME AUTUMN DAYS IN IOWA 
firm. Those that have grown old and flabby are 
not good.” 
Over the crest of the ridge and down the slope 
to the river the grays and the sepias are brightened 
by the high notes of the late orange-colored pods 
and the scarlet seeds of the waxwork or bittersweet 
(Celastrus scan dens) , also, here and there, the 
burning bush, or wahoo ( Euonymus atropurpur- 
eus) with its numerous and beautiful long drooping 
peduncles and deeply four-lobed crimson pods 
through which the scarlet seeds are bursting. This 
is one of the most ornamental of the native shrubs. 
The wonder is that more of them are not seen in 
gardens. And by-the-way, many of the wild 
shrubs, to say nothing of the wild herbs might well 
find a place around the dwelling of the nature 
lover. They are far more beautiful and appro¬ 
priate than some of the artificial ornamental oddi¬ 
ties. The hardy clematis, the common virgin’s 
bower ( Clematis Virginiana) , the Virginia creeper 
(Ampelopsis quinquefolia) , the steeple bush 
(Spireae tomentosa) , the common meadow-sweet 
(Spireae salitcifolia) , the goat’s beard ( Spireae 
aruncus ), the black haw ( Viburnum prunifolium ), 
the honey-suckle ( Lonicera grata), the cat-brier 
(Smilas herbacea) — at least one town lot has 
many of these and many have wondered from what 
far-away state these beautiful shrubs were imported. 
