174 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



beautiful flower grows in profusion on the 

 Welsh moxyjtains, and has been found on some 

 of the highest of the Swiss Alps. Its large 

 flowers are of the colour called mazarine blue, 

 and they are sometimes used as an edging for 

 the border. It is less difficult to cultivate than 

 most of the gentians. These flowers, inhabit- 

 ing naturally the high mountain regions, require 

 conditions of atmosphere not to be found in the 

 lowland garden. A piire and rarefied air 

 blows over the lofty height where they grow 

 wild, and the bright light of the summer season 

 on the mountain can never be rivalled on the 

 plain. The effect of a bright light on colour, 

 has been well ascertained by dyers, who cannot 

 produce the most brilliant tints under a cloudy 

 sky ; while it is equally evident in its effects on 

 the plants which exist under its influence. 

 Our winters too are often unfavourable to moun- 

 tain flowers ; for though the cold of elevated 

 regions is far more severe, yet the snow re- 

 mains much longer on the earth, and thus the 

 plants are not subjected to the alternate frosts 

 and thaws to which they are exposed in the 

 winter and early spring of our country. 



We have in our fields a pretty gentian, 

 (Gentimia campestiHs,) which, however, attains 

 a greater degree of perfection in some other 

 countries, and in the month of October covers 

 the tops of the hills of Norway. In Sweden 

 too it is abimdant at the same season, and it is 

 described as one of the most beautiful flowers 

 of the alpine pastures of that land, its blossoms 



