44 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



And it is promise we look for at the turn of the 

 year ; it is promise we must have after long months 

 of snow. When youthful " chevalier Printemps " 

 hymns us his ancient message; when in penetrating 

 accents of triumph he tells us : 



" Cest moi que Dieu sur terre envoie 

 Dans un rayon de son soleil 

 Pour mettre la terre en joie, 

 Pour faire un monde tout vermeil. 

 Quand Thiver m'a crie ' qui vive ! ^ 

 J''ai dit : ' Fais-moi place, il est temps ! 

 Du Paradis tout droit j 'arrive : 

 Je suis le chevalier Printemps ! "" " 



— when, I say, spring thus speaks to us of the rout 

 of winter and the dawn of a wealthier life, it is 

 blue that we look for most upon the frost-stained 

 fields ; blue not white — the blue of the type- 

 flowered Gentian, not the white of the Alpine 

 Crowfoot and Crocus. 



Whilst writing these lines on the most fascinating 

 spring flower of the Alps, there comes before my 

 mind one spot in particular where it abounds in 

 May — a certain long and rapid grassy slope at 

 Le Planet, above Argenti^re (Haute-Savoie). 

 Albeit not in Switzerland, Le Planet is only just 

 across the frontier ; and, as every one who knows 



