CHAPTEE V 



THE WILD GARDENS OF THE YOSEMITE PARK 



When California was wild, it was the floweri- 

 est part of the continent. And perhaps it is so 

 still, notwithstanding the lowland flora has in 

 great part vanished before the farmers' flocks 

 and ploughs. So exuberant was the bloom of 

 the main valley of the state, it would still 

 have been extravagantly rich had ninety-nine out 

 of every hundred of its crowded flowers been 

 taken away, — far flowerier than the beautiful 

 prairies of Illinois and Wisconsin, or the savan- 

 nas of the Southern states. In the early spring 

 it was a smooth, evenly planted sheet of purple 

 and gold, one mass of bloom more than four 

 hundred miles long, with scarce a green leaf in 

 sight. 



Still more interesting is the rich and wonder- 

 fully varied flora of the mountains. Going up 

 the Sierra across the Yosemite Park to the Sum- 

 mit peaks, thirteen thousand feet high, you find 

 as much variety in the vegetation as in the scen- 

 ery. Change succeeds change with bewildering 

 rapidity, for in a few days you pass through as 



