4 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



rather than garrulity is at the base of well-being, 

 and that, if the best interests of the cult of 

 Alpines be studied, any over-production of books 

 upon the subject should be avoided, otherwise we 

 are likely to be face to face with the danger of 

 driving this particular section of the plant-world 

 within that zone of appreciation " over which hangs 

 the veil of familiarity." 



Few acts are more injudicious, more unkind, 

 or more destructive than that of overloading. 

 '* The last straw " will break the back of any- 

 thing, not alone of a camel. One who is 

 mindful of this truth is in an anxious position 

 when he finds himself one of a thousand 

 industrious builders busily bent upon adding 

 straw upon straw to the back of one special 

 subject. 



It were a thousand pities if, for want of 

 moderation, Alpines should go the way Sweet Peas 

 are possibly doomed to go — the way of all over- 

 ridden enthusiasms. Extravagant attention is no 

 new menace to the welfare of that we set out 

 to admire and to cherish, and it were pity of pities 

 if, for lack of seemly restraint, the shy and Ioa ely 

 denizens of the Alps should arrive at that place in 

 our intimacy where they will no longer be generally 



