152 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



I do not for one instant think that in Maytime 

 we could improve upon the weighty wealth of 

 Hawthorn set amid knee-deep meadows of Butter- 

 cups and Parsnips ; for the rare witchery of it all 

 is unmistakable. I would leave it as it stands : 

 British par excellence, unrivalled for quiet pros- 

 perity, for unique felicity. Nor would I tamper 

 with the wealth of Primrose copse, or attempt to 

 meddle with the woods of Bluebells, Daffodils, and 

 Foxgloves. To do any such thing would be purest 

 sacrilege — and a wild conceit into the bargain ! 

 No, no ; there is much, very much in Britain's 

 countryside that rightly stands in the front rank 

 of Nature's happiest creations, and it were mad 

 impertinence to think to oust it or to improve it 

 by inept additions. But these front-rank marvels 

 are not everywhere. Many is the spot that might 

 reasonably be bettered ; many the wayside field, 

 copse, bank, or railway- cutting that would repay 

 us for a little help ; and it is in such places {pax, 

 O Farmer ! have I not gone round to avoid 

 treading on your property ?) — it is with regard to 

 such places that I do suggest we might take a 

 leaf from Nature's Alpine book. 



But why, some will ask — why interfere with our 

 indigenous field-flowers, and thus with our pure- 



