24 ALPINE PLANTS 
and rushing torrent, the loosened fragments of stone are 
carried down the mountain side, with the result that when 
their progress is arrested by some stout upstanding piece 
of rock they fill great pockets or hollows and form beds 
of loose stones mixed with the leaves and stems of plants 
that have been swept along with the rushing, tumbling 
avalanche. In a surprisingly brief period such beds of 
stone fragments become clothed with plants of various 
kinds but of a character all their own. The stone bed 
is always moist, huge volumes of water from time to time 
filtering through, but the water can never remain to become 
stagnant. Plants that would rot if planted in rich solid 
soil will fill the interstices between the stones with roots 
that absorb a tremendous amount of water, and the fresh- 
ness of the foliage and profusion of flowers testifies to the 
comfort they find in their harsh bed of stones. Alpine 
plantsmen have devised methods of reproducing these 
stone-beds, and of successfully cultivating therein many 
plants that fail under what might be considered more 
normal and favourable conditions. 
One great difference between alpine conditions and 
those of our British gardens is that in the Alps the seasons 
of growth and rest are sharply divided. 
At the beginning of winter the plants are covered with 
snow, but it is snow frozen dry. The plants are shrouded 
from daylight and buried deep in snow, but there is not 
enough dampness to cause the decay of a leaf. Thus, 
the plants remain throughout the long winter. With 
extraordinary suddenness the thaw sets in and in an 
incredibly short space of time the vast snows give way 
