ALPINE FIELDS FOR ENGLAND 155 



upon his domain — upbraiding us for daring to 

 suggest such palpably bad farming. But we have 

 no intent to meddle with his meadows. Yet if we 

 had, what answer can we make him ? Is it of any 

 use for us to point to Swiss experience of flowery 

 pastures, telling him that the finest cheeses — those 

 of Gruyere and Emmenthal— are made on the 

 middle or lower " alpen," and that, in fact, they 

 come from fields which are literally crammed with 

 lovely flowering plants ? Is it of any use assuring 

 him that cows fed on the comparatively flowerless 

 fields of Fully, for example, opposite Martigny in 

 the Rhone Valley, give not only less, but less rich 

 milk than those fed on the fields of Chemin, 

 Chables, or Champex, and that, whenever possible, 

 the flowerless hay goes to the horses ? Is it of any 

 use pointing out these facts to our scandalised 

 friend ? Possibly not. Possibly he will retort : 

 " Necessity makes high use of just whatsoever is 

 within reach ; other lands other ways ; circumstance 

 creates ideals." And quite possibly he will be 

 right. 



But whatever may be said in disparagement of 

 the introduction of Alpine plants into England's 

 fields in general, little or no objection can be made 



