io ©n tbe Stuop of IHatural Scenery, 



grassy banks masses of blue violets and other flowers 

 appear in spring. 



The meadow is still more interesting, and there we may 

 learn how many of our most beautiful ornamental plants 

 should be grown. Meadows are low grassy lands on the 

 shores of rivers and lakes ; they form the bottom-lands of 

 many, both lowland and alpine, valleys, and are very rich 

 in soft grasses and flowering plants. The lowland meadow, 

 especially in southern countries, is simply a form of a 

 marsh on somewhat higher ground, with almost as coarse 

 and robust a vegetation. In the far North and in high alti- 

 tudes, the meadow takes on a more and more refined and 

 pleasing appearance, the grass becomes softer and more dense 

 as we ascend above the level of the sea, the flowers become 

 smaller, more numerous, and of exquisite forms and colors, 

 until close to the everlasting snow we meet a scene 

 beautiful beyond description, where the flowers are in- 

 tensely colored and much larger, and the plants smaller 

 than those of the lowland meadow. Some of the most 

 attractive flowers cultivated in gardens were originally 

 meadow plants. Globe flowers, daffodils, gentians, lilies 

 shining like fires in the distance, purple orchis, wide 

 stretches of meadow cress, and saxifrage lend interest and 

 color to the scenery. Many grow in almost dry positions, 

 others in places where the soil is steeped in water. The 

 level surface is broken and relieved by light groves of birch 

 and alder, forming little islands in this sea of grass and 

 flowers, or lining the shores of the winding streams. In 

 alpine regions, these meadow landscapes are often closed in 

 by steep cliffs, the sides of which are clothed with rock 



