GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 25 
before the blazing sun. What was a dry, frozen waste 
becomes water-sodden, and the heat of the sun makes the 
whole mountain side reek with vapour. Growth starts 
with a jerk, and the awakened plants are in full bloom 
in less time than those in our gardens occupy in forming 
their first leaves and buds. Contrast the conditions I 
have described with those our plants endure. Frequently 
growth continues until wellnigh Christmas. A spasmodic 
snowstorm or frost may chill the plants to rest, but in a 
few days temperature rises, or drizzling rain and wet 
fogs set in. In early spring a few sunny days encourage 
new growth, but likely enough severe frosts and heavy 
snows will follow, and thus throughout the whole winter 
there is little or no rest for the plants, but a series of 
delusions and checks, and worst of all the dampness of 
our average winter. To so manceuvre that these climatic 
disadvantages may be minimized and overcome consti- 
tutes the most difficult task that confronts the cultivator 
of alpine plants, but be not discouraged, my reader, much 
may be done with but little real trouble or expense, and 
success which amply repays the effort is obtainable, and 
to the real plant-lover even the difficulties to be fought 
constitute a source of gratifying pleasure and absorbing 
interest. 
It is furthermore an encouragement to bear in mind 
that the natural species of these mountain plants are blessed 
with the instinct of self-preservation, so to speak. They 
have endured generation after generation the hardships 
that are the portion of Nature’s wildlings, and have not 
been so perpetually favoured with congenial conditions as 
