IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME VI 



No. 62 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



APRIL 



IQII 



A Holiday in the Alps 



Ry \V. H. Pa INK. 



N 



E E D I N G some profitable 

 holiday I set out to tour 

 the Pyrenees Alps and to 

 hag what was useful to our com- 

 mercial horticulture at home. One 

 beholds so much glorious beauty 

 that the thoughts of profit fade from 

 llie mind. 



As I arrived at Pau I saw the 



I iigged outline of the snowy earth 



T^MB^^Ki standing out in the setting sun. 



H)! ^jf^- -^ly thoughts wandered to the potent 



loy that awaited me amid the rilling 



A ateis of the lower Alpine streams 



o the arctic regions in the clouds 



above. 



1 first started n^\ hunt for plants 

 at Luz, and set out with a guide to 

 lead my stony way to Cauterets. 

 These mountains were pleasing to 

 the lover of Alpine plants, and to 

 make a journey in company with 

 them over nature's rockeries is 

 light. Plants cringing beneath vast 

 giants of stone or hanging for dear life from 

 precipice above, sending forth garlands of 

 jewel-like flowers in colours of deep tone and 

 in careless ghost-like grace as if enjoying the 

 pleasure of the present suns, without a thought 

 of the dark days which would surely come, 

 when the snow factors began their seasonable 

 task ! 



Having spent the first day in surveying the 

 prospects of various mountain tops I started 

 out to the Lac de Gaube next day, to the 

 mountains beyond. 



Starting out at five o'clock I tramped with 

 the guide, with my knapsack on my shoulder, 

 my repast and wine within, to about 1,000 feet 



indeed 



below the Lac de Gaube, and from this spot we 

 followed the stream which came from the pool 

 above — which, by the way, is the largest high- 

 land lake in these parts ; about 100 acres of 

 water rests liigh up in the mountains within its 

 rocky banks. 



It was along the rushing stream which I 

 have just mentioned that my quest began. 

 About the most common plant to be seen was 

 Parnassia palustris, which on every damp grass 

 bank along the stream side gave a sheet of 

 white that from a distance might be taken for 

 snow. One of the first Alpine gems that 

 cheered my way was Soldanella alpina, growing 

 in the mossy cushions by the stream side, 

 throwing forth its wee floral splendours and 

 reflecting in the still pools which occur at 

 intervals down the stream. It was curious to 

 note that it never took up its abode near the 

 splashing torrent, but reposed in the more 

 peaceful corners. Another thing I noticed 

 about this plant was that it grew- most luxuri- 

 antly beside these pools, but did not seed ; yet 

 away above on the rocks which overhung the 

 torrents, where the struggle for life was very 

 keen, it was seeding in abundance. I suppose 

 the water acted as the agent for distributing 

 the seeds to the banks below. 



In close association were Pyrola rotundifolia, 

 P. media. Primula glutinosa, and Ranunculus 

 thora. Of the latter two I brought home 

 thousands. Pfimula glutinosa was a gem here, 

 the colour being clear, and no suggestion of 

 the chalky hues seen in the forms in commerce. 

 It was growing in almost soilless grass which 

 had overgrown the stream-side rocks. 



Ranunculus thora was plentiful in roots, but 

 flower was scarce. This plant sought deeper 

 soils and slightly moraine formations. F'urther 



