February 20, 1866. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOBTICULIUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



147 



A Piedmontese named Joseph Sledall for ten years is-andered 

 about these mountains, seeking the best spot for this tre- 

 mendous undertaking ; but it was left for a Belgian — Mans, 

 assisted by Sismondi the naturalist, to hit upon the place 

 ultimately chosen. They spent four years in the interesting 

 search. 



The outlet, and inlet too, on the Piedmontese side is at 

 Bardonneche, and the workmen are very gradually approaching 

 each other. The two great problems were — how to supply the 

 workmen with air-, and how to ensure their meeting in the 

 centre of the tunnel. To let down vertical shafts to ascertain 

 the natui'e of the mountain and to supply fresh air for the 

 workmen would have taken, it is computed, forty years ! Most 

 wonderful are the expedients resorted to for working the boring 

 shafts and for breathing-material. The compressed air of six 

 atmospheres is introduced in tubes — that intended for breath- 

 ing, of course, expanding the instant it is released ; the other 

 forcing out the perforating needle or shaft, much in the same 

 way as a popgun. For compressing the air the torrent of the 

 Are is put into requisition. But my poor pen could never 

 properly explain half of the wonders of this most gigantic 

 work ; but after gazing up at the perched cottages and inclined 

 planes, I turned my longing eyes back up the valley, with its 

 rushing waters and its fields of Primulas and Gentian.s ; and 

 if ever I go over Mount Cenis again, I think I shall choose the 

 lesser bore of the mules to the gi-eater bore of the tunnel. The 

 cost of this undertaking is perfectly enormous. If fiuished by 

 1873, the share to be paid by the French Government alone 

 is £1,287,000. 



St. Michel, cm nest halting place, is one of the loveliest 

 mountain villages I have ever seen. Yon do not look on the 

 grand hills from afar off in mysterious unapproachahlenesa, 

 for they ai-e close to youi- elbow, iu^-iting you to scale them at 

 every turn. Nor are they cold, and white, and glittering — too 

 pure for aught hut worship. They are rich and warm in colour- 

 ing, not only courting the son's rays, but, as it were, imprison- 

 ing them on many a glade and chosen spot. 



On one of the lower rocks I found a mass of Asplenium 

 germanicum, very dry and withered, but retaining sufficient 

 vitality to repay me for my care by sending out new fronds. 

 At first I mistook the withered fronds for A. septentrionale, 

 they had been so fine and flourishing ; but a little inspection 

 proved differently. I fear for the life of ;he plants in England, 

 for I have lost all but two in trying to persuade them to hve 

 out of doors. On the same group of rocks, but higher up, we 

 found a very handsome orange-colom'ed Pheasaut's-eye (Adonis 

 citrina), the Polygala alpestris, and quantities of Silene acauhs, 

 which gave a ruddy glow to many of the surrounding rocks, 

 from the masses which trailed over them. 



At the rambling old inn I found a parcel of alpine plants 

 left for me by our pleasant railway companions of Susa. I 

 wonder if they will ever read this little account, and my grate- 

 ful acknowledgments with it. At St. Michel we took train for 

 Geneva, changing carriages at Culoz. 



Geneva — as I write the name I put down my pen and wonder. 

 How was it that none of the numerous accounts I had read 

 had given me the faintest idea of what Geneva was ? For any 

 true impression conveyed to my mind I might have read of 

 Timbuctoo or Yucatan. Yet the clean little town, with the 

 dark green waters of the Rhone for ever rushing through it, 

 with its numerous bridges — its wooden pathways over the river, 

 which laps up to the sides of the houses — with its sober-looking 

 shops and its dark cathedral — has a life and individuality of 

 its own, complete and utterly apart from that of any other 

 place. " To be sm-e," you will say, " it's the lake, and the 

 Castle of ChiUon, and all that sort of thing." No, the lake of 

 Geneva and Geneva are two separate things. I think it's 

 Calvin. When I remember Geneva I feel cold and idle, and 

 very clean and intensely diiU. I feel as if I had suddenly 

 passed from one hemisphere to another without crossing the 

 line. The Southern Cross has set, and the northern lights 

 stream up the cold pale sky. I miss from the shop windows 

 the comely benevolent face of il St. Padre, which has given 

 place to the sharp-visaged profile of Calvin. I miss the pro- 

 cessions from the streets, the lights, the music, and the people 

 from the churches. I miss the dear old dirty monks, the bells, 

 the noise, the fulness and richness of the southei-n hfe ; and 

 it does not compensate me to hear that the Genevese are a 

 hardworking set when they are not tipsy, and that Ufe and 

 property are respected, and safe as in England. Perhaps, too, 

 I miss the little excitement of the dark passages and stiletto. 

 Yes, all this is gone — passed away from me, perchance, for 



ever ; but there is the lake and Mont Blanc just over the water. 

 Mont Blanc, now clear and sharp in outline, frozen, and white ; 

 now grey and misty, looking unearthly in its robe of vapour ; 

 now golden red like a bank of lurid fire ; and now nowhere. 

 Yes, there is a tiny brilhant peak peering from the clouds : 

 that is the Grand Mulets, Mont Blanc itself is to the right. 

 A little watching, and the three-in-one mountain is visible, 

 but only for a while. Presently all vanishes away, and sky 

 and cloud look entirely innocent of its existence. 



Must I speak more of Geneva, or will it be as if a foreigner 

 were to describe Richmond or Hackney ? Shall I tell of the 

 wUd flowers abounding in the neighbourhood ? — of the snow- 

 white MeUssa grandiflora, the Tragopogon major, the Orchis 

 pyramidalis, the Dianthus asper, and a lovely white Orchis- 

 looking plant, with a stiff stem, and buds like closed Orange 

 flowers, that I found in a Beech wood, and which in a smaller 

 variety I once found in a Beech wood in Hampshire, when I 

 was told it was an Epipactis, but I do not believe it. Then 

 growing about a waterfall I found the Pelargonium Roberti- 

 anum, and covering an old bridge a lot of Cystopteris fragihs. 



I took my plants off in triumph to the Botanic Gardens, 

 hoping to name them ; but alas ! for the system that prevails 

 there, whether that of Professor De CandoUe or other ! I foaud 

 obliterated names, dead plants, and disorder everywhere ; and 

 after many vain attempts I had to desist in despair, and re- 

 turned grumbling to the lake and the mountains, which at all 

 times answer every demand and satisfy every craving. 



And so at length my little chaplet of Italian wild flowers is 

 finished — my " Gleanings " gathered together and bound up. 

 The sheaf is not large, and there may be here and there cockle 

 with the barley, for there are innumerable difficulties attending 

 even the naming of the commonest Italian wild flowers, from 

 the lack of books and get-at-able botanists ; but loving hands 

 and willing feet have followed the reaper's track wherever it 

 was visible. The harves-t of the gi-eat field of natm-e is large 

 enough for all. It cries out day and night for labourers. The 

 more the reapers the more bountiful the store, for it knows no 

 years of scarcity and famine, and the very wayside provides 

 food enough and to spare for many gleaners. — Filix-fcemina. 



WORK FOR THE W'EEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



In light dry soils progress may be made in putting in some 

 of the principal crops. On stiff wet ground this should by no 

 means be attempted. Artichokes, if the weather continue mild 

 give them their spring di'essing. A^iparagus, m;ike new betis 

 with two-year plants, and fill up old ones. Beans, plant out 

 Mazagans from boxes and pots. Earth-up the early-sown crops. 

 Cabbarie, plant out beds, and earth-up those already planted. 

 Caitlitloa-ers, plant out from frames or hand-glasses. The latter 

 must" have but three plants left in each. Cucumhirs, the pre- 

 sent mild weather wUl greatly conduce to the health of the 

 plants, as it will aUow of an admission of fresh air daily with- 

 out fear of their receiving injury. Close the frames early in 

 the afternoon, and let them remain shut down till the evening, 

 when a little air may be given for the night. After linings have 

 been renewed keep a constant watch on the state of the bed. 

 Lcehs, sow for a principal crop. Ordom, sow main crops in 

 di-iUs or broadcast. Weed and thin out those sown in the 

 autumn. The thinnings may be planted out in favourable 

 situations. Pot Herbs should now be sown, or plantaticais 

 made from cuttings. Potatoes, plant ear-ly sorts in a wann 

 situation ; for earlier crops a few may be planted in boxes in 

 heat, and transplanted to the open ground when they have 

 vegetated. Those grooving in frames should have air given 

 freely. Parsjiips, now is a good time to sow a good breadth in 

 ground deeply trenched, with the manure at the bottom. It is 

 a very useful vegetable, and none better repays extra care in 

 the cultivation. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Proceed with pruning and nailing when not too cold for 

 these operations. If any planting still remains to be done, let 

 it be perfonned as soon as the ground is in a fit state for that 

 pui-pose. Do not, as is sometimes done, over-manure. It is a 

 great mistake to induce the production of gross loug-joiuted 

 wood m any state of the existence of a fruit tree, wood of this 

 description never becomes thoroughly ripened. With stone 

 fruits, gum, canker, and premature death are sometimes the 

 result ; and in the case of Pear.^, anything deserving tlie name 

 of a crop is never obtained till the gross habit induced by 



