184 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



passing when Alpine conditions were held to 

 be sufficiently represented by the rock-fortresses 

 of the Alps, 



" And all the garrisons were flowers,'" 



Of course, these garrisons are, and must always 

 remain, the most prominent and unique of vegeta- 

 tion's Alpine marvels, but they cannot properly be 

 thought to speak for all ; they are, as it were, the 

 militant eclaireui^s set upon the craggy heights and 

 watching over the peaceful hosts of their fellows 

 upon the fields. As is the way in all our activities, 

 we hug a truth a long time before becoming aware 

 that it is not the whole truth. Perception has small 

 beginnings, advance is slow, and exaggeration, 

 meantime, is the very breath of progress. We 

 ill-use a truth by over-kindness ; our ecstasy forces 

 it to lie. We dwell extravagantly upon it until it 

 becomes partially false ; then we move on. And 

 this, I find, is what has happened, and is happening, 

 in the case of Alpine rockworks. We have for 

 long dwelt alone with them as with the last word 

 upon the housing of Alpine plants ; we have been 

 so absorbed in them as the whole truth, that 

 we have seen no need, even no possibility, for 

 further helpful inquiry of Nature. But the time 



