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ALPINE FLOWERS AND 

 GARDENS 



CHAPTER I 



THE RIVAL SEASONS 



SWITZERLAND probably owes nearly as much of its 

 popularity to its flowers as it does to its mountains, 

 and although in this regard we may find it difficult 

 to dissociate the one from the other, it is not 

 impossible, nor, indeed, unreasonable. There is a 

 season when the mountains are devoid of flowers 

 and yet remain popular. But the popularity which 

 surrounds the Alps in winter is not, and probably 

 never can be, the wide popularity which sur- 

 rounds them in spring, summer, and early autumn. 

 Whilst Goddess Flora slumbers, Nature's appeal 

 is more particular than general, and this even to 

 so strenuous, athletic, and sports-loving a race as 

 the British; for, as Mr. E. T. Cook so rightly 

 remarks in the opening chapter of his ' Gar ens of 



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