6 SUB-AI.PINE PLANTS 



Alpine valleys, and the pine forests descend on either side to meet 

 them ; though in some valleys cliffs and steep rocky slopes take the 

 place of the forests. The pastures, ' Alps,' or Alpen, are above 

 the forest zone. In most communes the meadows are usually owned 

 privately, but the pastures are held in common by the inhabitants 

 of the villages, and each burgher has the right of grazing his cows 

 on certain alpen. The meadows are very rich, for the soil contains 

 much humus, or decayed organic matter, and fertilising deposits 

 are also brought down by the numerous little rivulets which descend 

 the slopes, and by the central glacier stream which usually flows 

 through the valley. In addition to such natural irrigation, the 

 peasants manure their land well, so that every season they get two 

 crops of grass, while occasionally late in autumn men and women 

 may be seen laboriously gathering in a third crop, though this is 

 usually very scanty. The cattle are not often allowed on the 

 meadows in spring, because the grass is more valuable when 

 converted into hay. They are sent up to the lower pastures, and, 

 as the summer advances, are gradually driven to the highest 

 ' Alps.' If the higher pastures are ever mown, it is as autumn 

 approaches. 



When once the meadows have yielded their first crop of hay, 

 which is usually at the end of June or the first week of July, or if 

 by chance the cattle should have had access to them, their great 

 glory has departed. For though some plants quickly spring up 

 again^ — Geranium sylvaticum sometimes flowers within a week — 

 their chief charm has gone. The second crop is never so taU, nor 

 often so full of blossom, and many of the plants have a branched, 

 stunted appearance. 



Compared with an English meadow, the dense vegetation of 

 these Swiss meadows consists not so much in true grasses as in 

 other flowering plants. Probably the periodic manuring, and 

 frequent cutting with the scythe tend to promote a dense growth 

 of coarser plants at the expense of the finer grasses. Therefore 

 we find great masses of pink Bistort {Polygonum Bistoria), of 

 blue Centaurea montana, of mauve or purple Geranium sylvaticum, 

 and many other handsome plants. We also find a number of 

 marsh plants, for these meadows are often little more than peat 

 marshes, and probably few of them ha\'e been drained with pipes, 

 such as is the custom in England. Among the more important 

 marsh plants frequent in the meadows are : Ranunculus aconiti- 

 folius, the Globe-flower \(Trollius eurofcBus), Primula farinosa, 

 certain species of Pedicularis, Orchis maculata, 0. latifolia, 

 Gymnadenia conopsea, and G. odoraiissima. 



Many flowers of the Alpine meadows are ordinary British plants. 

 In addition to those already mentioned and to the true grasses 

 we often"ifind such common species as the Buttercups {Ranunculus 

 acris and R. bulbosus), the Ox-eye Daisy {Chrysanthemum Leucan- 



