lOi 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEU. 



[ Aogiut S, 1889. 



and elsewhere, ProfeFsor Oswald Herr recogDises Beveral cereals, 

 — Triticnmvnlgaro; Triticnindicoccon; alsonordenrndieticlion, 

 and Hordenm hoiaBticbon. The pfnldbauten of Wangen and 

 Bobenbansen have also fomiahod abundant examples of a coarse 

 bread Bavonring ratbrr of braised com than meal. It was 

 probably baked on Lot Btones, and covered with hot embers, 

 just as in the Eigsmaal Saga ' Edda drew out from the embers 

 a bread cake, heavy, Btickr, and fall of bran.' In the same 

 pfahlbari, too, were stores <.f Apples and Pears ont into halves 

 and qnarter?, and dried in the snn for winter food. The custom 

 holds in Switzerland to this day, and these dried Apple cuttings 

 are sold by measure in the markets under the name of xaul:/: 

 From the size of some of this carbonised fruit it would appear 

 that the Apple.'? must hive been of a cultivated kind,— so these 

 people wore acqnainted to a certain degree not only with com, 

 but with fruit cultuie. 



" Flax and hemp they certainly had, and tho means of spin- 

 ning it, which was of the last necessity for their nets. Nothing 

 exists to show any knowledge of the art of weaving, but they 

 contrived to mannfactnre a coarse flaxen plaited material. In 

 addition to their other means of subsistence they had always the 

 lake at command, and the great variety of fish-hooks discovered 

 shows that they knew how to take fall advantage of it with the 

 line as well as the net." 



Great, indeed, wag the interest with which I inspected the 

 numerous relics of the Pfahl- 

 baulen preserved in the Z nrich 

 museum. The sharpened ends 

 of the piles, I think, show that 

 they were of a Coniferous tree, 

 probably Abies excelaa. The 

 Apples, halved, aro black 

 masses ; they were evidently 

 carbonised by exposure to in- 

 tense heat whilst the air was 

 excluded. They were prob- 

 ably stored in close ve.'fsels. 

 The pulp is black, a mere 

 mass of charcoal ; the core is 

 somewhat paler, and the pips are quite distinct, as shown in 

 this portrait of one. 



What thoughts crowd upon one ! What reflections that we 

 we looking upon forms that other human eyes looked upon, 

 since which so vt ry many thousands of years have passed ! 

 Then, probably, as how, a winter store of dried fruits was 

 essential for the preservation of health. I pondered over the un- 

 interrupted succession of Pear, Cherry, Walnut, and Apple trees 

 that margin all the roads in the Swiss valleys, and wondered 

 what could be done with their produce. I at last was told. In 

 winter the dried fruit is almost the only vegetable produce, ex- 

 cept bread, that is available to minglo with their animal food. 

 In some alpine districts that animal food is only such as has 

 been sailed, and the consequences have been told by the Kev. 

 Mr. Macmillan in his most interesting little volume, " Holidays 

 on High Lands. " Speaking of the monks of St. Bernard, he 

 says, " During winter they have no fresh meat, being obliged 

 to subsist upon salted beef and mutton, usually killed and pre- 

 served in September, and, which is worse still, they have no 

 vegetables, all attempt.? at gardening in the place having proved 

 abortive, so that not imfiequently scurvy is added to their 

 aufferings." 



The fruit of tho Cherry, including the stone, is crushed, fer- 

 mented, and a spirit distilled from the mass, so potent and 

 pleasant, that it is degraded by being named, as it is named — 

 " Cheny-M.a(c/ " — Kirschwasser. 



_ In the Zurich museum are preserved many other relics be- 

 sides those of the lake-dwellers ; but I must not linger here 

 over " The Twelfth-day Queen," Jane Gray's neatly-written 

 letters to Eullinger, nor to the " infirm-of-purpose " looking 

 scrawl of Cranmer; but I note more fittingly for your pages, 

 that there are original and very satisfactory portraits of Conrad 

 Gesner, Schenchzer, and Lavater. 



Now, for a few words on the vegetable products of the Swiss 

 valleys, and first of these must be the fruit trees, for no object 

 strikes a stranger more forcihly than the continuous orchards 

 and vineyards which lino both sides of all the roads in all 

 these valleys. 



The vineyards almost exclusively are confined to tho moun- 

 tain sides, where they blend with the valleys, and they do not, 

 by their produce, deserve much further notice. With scarcely 

 an exception, the wines manufactured from their Grapes are 

 thin and acid, and not one is equal to good cider. The only 



exception was that to which was applied the not-over-re&ned 

 name of Lunfrauenmilke — "Pretty Maid's Milk." I waa 

 laughingly told that wo English expect every country like our 

 own to have districts noted for Bomething pleasant to the 

 palate, such as our Yorkshire hams, Norfolk dumplingt, and 

 Cheshire cheeses, and to celebrate anniversaries by f^pecial 

 eatables, as plum puddings at Christmas, buns on Good Friday, 

 and pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. But I had an avalanche of 

 instances to retort upon my assailant, for eveiy Swiss town has 

 some gounnandic specialty. Bale, the first "town within the 

 Cantons, has its leckerli, a thick kind of parliament — I mean 

 a cake, not an assembly of presumed wise men ; and in every 

 town I passed through there was sonie notable eatable, until I 

 escaped through the last municipaUty, Geneva, without being 

 made dyspeptic by its gingerbread. 



The Pear trees are next predominant in nnmbers, for their 

 fruit, as I have already mentioned, is out into halves, dried, 

 and consumed largely in winter. It was too early in the sum- 

 mer for me to ascertain the chief varieties cultivated, but ripe 

 Little Muscats were then (the first half of July) plentiful in 

 the markets. The Cherries — Bigarreaus, Black Hearts, and a 

 red Flemish, were also very abundant, selling retail at the rate 

 of 2i lbs. for 4d. Walnut trees are numoions everywhere, but 

 Apple trees are scant, and I'inm trees still more rare. Bil- 

 berries and Alpine Strawberries were plentiful in the markets, 

 and by the road sides where shaded by trees. Of kitchen 

 vegetables there were abundance of all kinds common in our 

 markets, and the only peculiarity I noticed was that more 

 white Carrots were offered for sale than those that are red- 

 rooted. Of Peas, also, there was a prevalence of the Sans 

 Panchemin. 



! Of ornamental trees, the prevalence of the Catalpa is re- 

 markable, and especially fir the freedom of its blooming. 

 Tilia microphylla is also quite ns much cultivated as is the 

 common Lime, or Linden tree, with us. Its foliage is not so 

 bold, as that of the latter, but its flowers are far more abun- 



t dant, open earlier, and are more fragrant. 



Of the wild flowers I cnn say but little, for I had to pass 

 rapidly through the districts where tho .Mpine Flora is richest. 

 Two plants, however, must attract even tho notice of eyes 

 looking from the windows of a railway carriage — the red- 

 berried Elder (Sambnous racemosa), and the Yellow Foxglove 



! (Digitalis lutea). Why are they not more cultivated in Eng- 

 land ? They are very ornamental. Then the Campanulas are 

 strikingly numerous. There are thirteen species in the vici- 

 nity of Lucerne, ranging from the C. pusilla, barely an inch 

 high, to the C. pyramidalis, which is 1 feet. All I saw im- 

 pressed me with the opinion that they were deeper in colour 

 and larger in flower than the same species which I had seen in 

 other European countries, and I find the same observation 

 made by the Eev. Mr. Macmillan : — " The flower that touched 

 me most was our own beloved ' Scottish Blue-bell.' I was 

 surprised and delighted beyond measure to see it hanging its 

 rich peal of bells in myriads from the crevices of the rocks 

 around, swaying with every breeze. It told in fairy tones the 

 music of ' Home, sweet Home.' It was like meeting a friend 

 in a far country. It was the old familiar Bluebell, but it was 

 changed in some respects. Its blossom was far larger, and of 

 a deep purple tinge, instead of the clear pale blue colour which 

 it has in this country. It afforded a striking example of the 

 changes which the same plant undergoes when placed in diffe- 

 rent circumstances. I could see in its altered features modi- 

 fications to suit a higher altitude and a severer climate. In 

 the Alps all the plants have blossoms remarkably large in pro- 

 portion to their foliage, and their colours are unusually inten- 

 sified, in order that they may get a!l the advantage of the brief 

 but ardent sunshine, so as to ripen their seed as rapidly as 

 possible." 



And having thus quoted his charming book, I will further 

 extract from it a passage to compensate my own Alpine botani- 

 cal shortcomings, and will add the recommendation to the 

 reader to purchase the volume, for it is most excellent. 



" The Alpine Forget-me-not, only found in this country on 

 the summits of the Breadalbane mountains, cheered me with 

 its bright blue eyes everywhere ; while the ' Alpine Lady's 

 Mantle ' spread its grey satiny leaves, along with the Arctic 

 Willow, the favourite food of the chamois, over the stony 

 knolls, as if in pity for their nakedness. I found a few speci- 

 mens of the beautiful lilac Soldanella alpina, and also several 

 tufts of the glacier Eanunculns, on a kind of morain at the 

 foot of a hardened snow-wrsath. The Bannnculus was higher 

 up, and grew on the loose debris, withont a particle of verdure 



