VEGETATION OF HIGH MOUNTAINS. 23 



of his footsteps $ so much weight has a being of his impor- 

 tance in the scale of nature. 



In other places, by destruction he has signalized his presence. Woods de- 

 Before he approached the mountains, the immense forests ^. r °y e 7 

 which covered their bases have fallen under his axe, for woods 

 are not the abodes of man ; he avoids the circuitous paths of 

 so vast a labyrinth, suspecting danger under their shades ; he 

 there mourns the absent sun, an object which every day reno- 

 vates his delight j and therefore it is seldom that he penetrates 

 a forest, without fire and sword in hand. 



Accordingly the seeds of woodland plants become dormant arid with them 

 in a soil now dried by the sun and wind, and no longer suitable w .°° an 

 to their germinating. Other vegetables take their places, the 

 climate itself changing $ for the temperature rises, the rains 

 are less frequent, but more copious, the winds more incon- 

 stant and impetuous, deep gullies are formed in the sides of the 

 acclivities by torrents, and rocks are/ deprived of the earth 

 which covered them, and, at the same time, of the plants 

 which ornamented them, by falls of immense loads of melting 

 snow ; thus the face of the globe, where man inhabits, is 

 more changed in one century, than in twenty where he is 

 absent. 



After all, in Alpine countries, the different soils, and their The horticul- 

 productions, retain most of their aboriginal character: there, ^sital'pine 

 the primitive distribution of vegetables has been least disturbed 3 countries as 

 their localities can be easily traced, the influence of the air is ™ elI . a * the S e " 

 most perceptible j there, the contiguity of objects exhibiting 

 more forcibly their similitudes and dissimilitudes, the eye of the 

 observer takes in, at one glance, every trait which is interesting $ 

 and if it is necessary for the geologist to visit these grand chains 

 of mountains, to study the structure of the earth and those ca- 

 tastrophes, which have imprinted its present form, it is still 

 more so for the horticulturist, who wishes to penetrate the mys- 

 teries of the primary dissemination of vegetables and their sub- . 

 sequent propagation, hoping thence to derive hints for their 

 successful cultivation and improvement, in the paradise sur- 

 rounding his dwelling. 



