CHAPTER X 



IN AN ALPINE GARDEN 



A VISIT to an Alpine garden is like a visit to an 

 Orchid-house ; it is a unique experience. Our 

 sensations are quite other than when visiting a 

 Herbaceous border. For of all plants, Alpines and 

 Orchids surround themselves with an atmosphere 

 all their own. On visiting one or other of the well-^ 

 estabhshed gardens in the Alps, we are instantly 

 impressed with a feeling that here is no ordinary 

 garden. It is as though we entered the Sanctum- 

 of- Sanctums of plant-life. Ignorant as we may be 

 of the plants themselves, of their history, of their 

 capacities and aptitudes, we fall under the sway of 

 some subtle spell, and are affected as we are never 

 affected in a Rose-garden. And this is because, 

 knowingly or unknowingly, we are in the presence 

 of the very highest asceticism. Whether we realize 

 it or not, here is a great and varied concourse of 

 ascetics gathered from the four comers of the 

 Alpine world — ascetics in the truest, noblest sense — 



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