68 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



But all this has gone cut by the scythe to 

 make winter fodder for the cows. The neighbour- 

 hood now is in possession of the cattle and their 

 attendant hordes of flies, seeking all they may 

 devour ! We must go farther afield ; farther up 

 to yet higher pastures, or to the stony slopes and 

 the rough beds and sides of the mountain streams 

 and glacier torrents. There we shall yet find 



* A world with summer radiance drest ' 



a world with 



' Nature"^ ev'ry fair device, 

 Mingled in a scented hoard.' 



Nor should we delay. The cows will soon be 

 moving higher, browsing and trampling things 

 beyond this year's repair ; but more especially will 

 the goats those omnivorous feeders, as far as 

 vegetable life is concerned be nibbling irrever- 

 ently at shrub and grass and flower alike, clearing 

 their district so that it looks as if a swarm of 

 locusts had passed that way. Over on yonder Col 

 we shall find Summer's Alpine splendours as yet 

 undisturbed. Let us go. 



Hood's lines are ringing in our ears : 



* It was the time of roses 

 We plucked them as we passed P 



