2 SWISS FLOWERS. 



fierce and unequal has been their battle with the winter 

 storms. 



But, if no one can pay a visit to Switzerland without 

 being struck by the novelty and brilliancy of its plants, 

 what must be the delight of first seeing them to a lover 

 of those plants as he beholds on every hand a new world 

 open to him? The pleasure will be two-fold. On the 

 lower grounds he will find species with which he has been 

 familiar in English gardens — no doubtful natives escaped 

 from cultivation, but growing with the wildness, freedom, 

 and abundance that proclaim them to be in their own land ; 

 he will be struck with admiration at seeing how beautiful 

 the plant may become which he only knew before under a 

 mean and stunted form ; and, as he looks and admires, he 

 may rejoice in the type and example which the lowly flower 

 presents of the capability of improvement and progress in 

 his own nature when placed under favouring circumstances. 

 And then, higher up, he will meet in free profusion with 

 many plants altogether new to him, and be equally 

 astonished and delighted with the intense and varied 

 colouring which is found in patches among the bare 

 rocks. 



Of course, good botanists have only to enjoy themselves 

 in the midst of such treasures, and they can make their 

 way somehow through Latin, German, and French books, 

 and find great help from them in identifying their new 



