VEGETATION i 9 



contrast also the forests, although, unfortunately, only in very small areas in 

 Europe has even an approximation to the old primeval conditions been retained. 

 In Bohemia, on the estate of Prince Adolf of Schwarzenberg, there is, however, a 

 large stretch of forest still retaining much of the primeval wild state, a condition 

 which it is intended to preserve in perpetuity. Unlike woods due to human agency, 

 these virgin forests consist of a mixture of firs, pines, beeches, alders, elms, and 

 sycamores; and it is only at a considerable elevation that firs begin to reign 

 supreme. Everywhere the ground is cumbered by fallen trunks, from the 

 mouldering remains of which have sprouted younger trees. The soil, covered with 

 a carpet of luxuriant moss, produces a plentiful undergrowth of beech, fir, and 

 pine, which only await the falling of some forest giant to develop to their full 

 height. Generally speaking, it may be said that the trunks of such trees have 

 reached a diameter of only from 4 to 8 inches in from a hundred and twenty to 

 a hundred and sixty years. A different reason is accountable for the slow 

 development of the Siberian trees ; the climate, especially in winter, being poor in 

 moisture, so that the trees are exposed to long and dry frosts, and consequently 

 grow very slowly. The forests consist principally of larches, but partly also of 

 pines, firs, and beeches, and have no brushwood, although farther north the long 

 wreaths of blackish grey mosses and lichens hanging from the trees give an 

 appearance of recent origin, which on closer examination proves deceptive. 



The southerly and maritime forests of the area situated in a milder climate 

 stamp the landscape with a different character; the dense forests of Kamchatka, 

 for instance, being interspersed with fertile meadows. In these latter the 

 principal plants are perennial grasses (mostly growing in tufts, and seldom creeping) 

 with flat green leaves, which do not roll up in dry seasons. These grasses, with 

 a few included plants, form a compact sheet of verdure, but on poor ground 

 there are wide tracts covered with moss alone, while some localities are actually 

 bare, thus changing the character of the country from that of meadow-land 

 to that of a steppe, or giving it the appearance of an ordinary field. The meadows 

 are mostly of smaller extent than the original steppes, especially where, owing to 

 a moist climate, pastures and forests alternate with one another. Probably land- 

 scapes of this description once extended all over Europe, since the climate of the 

 Continent is favourable to the growth of both grass and trees, and produces 

 numerous plants not belonging to the sylvan flora, which seem to prove the exist- 

 ence of natural meadows at earlier periods. These by cultivation have been 

 transformed into the fertile meadows of the present day, which are certainly 

 widely different from their prototypes. Siberia, however, has preserved these 

 primitive meadows in their natural condition, and amid the grass are many taller 

 plants, especially spirals and umbellifers, some of which exceed the height of a 



man. 



The forest and meadow zone of Siberia gradually merges into the tundra in 

 the north, while to the south, especially to the south-west, it passes into the area of 

 the steppes. The steppes, being situated in a climate with cold winters, are less 

 abundant in grasses than the plains of warmer countries, although they contain 

 more plants with woody stems, and more dwarf shrubs than the meadows. The 

 steppe-grasses have narrower leaves than the meadow-grasses, and are in conse- 



