180 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



And I believe that the cry will be answered. I 

 believe that the value of the fields, in the economy 

 of Alpine plant-life, has only to be placed earnestly 

 before conscientious gardeners and lovers of 

 flowers for it to meet with immediate and be- 

 coming diligence. I believe it will be seen that 

 a rockwork is not the first, last, and only home 

 we may make for Alpines in England, and that 

 it is as unlovely as it is unjust to tar all of them 

 with one and the same brush and think that, 

 because they are called Alpines, they must neces- 

 sarily be given a perch dominating the rest of the 

 garden. I therefore believe that one more of our 

 cherished conventionalities will soon be relegated 

 to the " Valhalla of bad taste." 



We " are still looking through a kaleidoscope 

 at ever-changing views," and " the eternal verities " 

 have as yet by no means been sounded to their 

 bases. If " Badsworth " can find sufficient sanction 

 to talk like this of auction bridge, with how much 

 more reason may it not be said of gardening and 

 the cult of Nature? It is doubtful if Ave have 

 reached much that is final in anything; certainly 

 not in gardening. Gardening — or flower-garden- 

 ing, since that is the department with which we 

 are here dealing — flower-gardening is something 



