88 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



arctic regions of the three continents, which border on the 

 north pole. It forms large carpets on the tundras. In 

 Europe it travels southwards along the Scandinavian 

 mountains, becoming more scattered the farther it goes. 

 It is found high up on the mountains of Scotland and Wales, 

 on some of the lake-mountains (it is profuse for instance 

 in Dungeon Gill), and a few of the Yorkshire hills. It 

 reappears in the Alps (descending as low as the Lake of 

 Constance), the Jura, and the Pyrenees. In America it 

 occurs in parts of Canada and the Rocky Mountains, 

 getting as far south as Mexico, but the eastern states do 

 not seem to suit it, and it is only found, completely isolated, 

 on Willoughby Mountain in Vermont. In Asia it is found at 

 great heights on the Himalayas and other southern ranges. 



One can fancy the purple saxifrage laying down the 

 conditions under which it could engage to be happy, and 

 saying : 



" The far north for me ! What I like best of all is a 

 little rocky knoll, open to the sun, but sheltered from the 

 wind. Let us fix the latitude at something between 70 

 and 80 N. I want a place where the snow melts early, 

 and where the snow-water can run off at once through 

 chinks and clefts. I don't in the least object to a short 

 summer of three months, for the sun will be shining all the 

 time, so that I can get my flowering and fruiting over 

 before the nine-months winter sets in. Give me such a 

 place as that, and I promise to make things gay. Such a 

 burst of purple bloom as you shall see ! 



" If I can't get exactly what I ask for, I don't mind 

 living farther south, provided that I find a sheltered nook 

 among the rocks. Let there be plenty of sun, good shelter 

 from the wind, and the higher the better. If I am to be 

 set down in western Europe, I prefer that slope of the 

 mountains which is turned away from the damp S.W. 

 wind. There must be no peat or clay to hinder the water 

 from running off. Above all, I want the place, whatever it 

 is, to myself, and can put up with a site which is not all I 



