" Alpine plants possess ihs, churm 

 of endless variety, and include things 

 widely different — tiny orchids, tree- 

 like moss, and ferns that peep from 

 crevices of alpine cliffs, often so §mall 

 that they seem to cling to the m^§ 

 for shelter, not daring to thro\y forth 

 their fronds with airy grace ; bulbou? 

 plants, from lilies to bluebells; ever- 

 green shrubs, perfect in leaf, blossoni, 

 and fruit, yet so small that a glass, 

 would make a house for them ; dwarf- 

 est creeping plants, spreading over the 

 brows of rocks, draping them with 

 loveliest colour, rockfoils and stone-^ 

 crops no bigger than mosses, and like 

 them, mantling the earth with green 

 carpets in winter; in a word, alpinje 

 plants embrace nearly every type of 

 the plant life of northern lands." 



Robert Southey, writing in "The 

 Doctor," paints, more than a century 

 ago, a picture of a garden, and it mif ht 

 87 



