Chap. X.] LETTERS PEOM ABROAD. 119 



the Koyal Horticultural Society of England. He read a paper at 

 that congress on ' The best Varieties of Fruits cultivated in 

 England,' with a view of advancing horticulture by communicat- 

 ing from one country to another the experience which has been 

 obtained of the cultivation of flowers and fruit under varieties of 

 soils and differences of climate. He received a few months later 

 a silver medal from the King of Italy. 



Whilst abroad I received many letters from him; two or 

 three of which are here transcribed. 



Tou tave passed tlie Semmering, and you remember how we turned 

 round to ascend the pass. "Well, we left Vienna and slept here, stopping 

 at the station at the turn round at the eleventh station. (Here follows 

 a diagram.) 



Semmering. — ^The place is most beautiful, with a face of rock of 

 astounding grandeur behind the hotel. This morning we started about 

 8 o'clock and drove up the gorge, which is perhaps the finest in Europe. 

 The first mUe or two was flat, and we saw the waterworks for Vienna, 

 which come out of limestone rocks, as the water comes from the ground at 

 Carshalton. After a time the valley narrows to a gorge, only sufficient 

 room for the river and the wood. At one place the road is carried on 

 planks over the course of the river thus (here is a drawing). The whole 

 road had abundance of wild flowers ; amongst the most remarkable were 

 Sempervivums, Sedums, Saxifrages, the blue Hepatica, the Cyclamen, the 

 grape Hyacinth, the beautiful Gentian Vema. Several plants I never 

 saw before — the wild Auricula, the Trolleus EuropsBus, the green-stalked 

 Spleenwort, aU of which I sent many specimens, of which you shall come 

 in for your fair share. I was quite tired grubbing up the plants, and got 

 a large quantity. On our return many of the party saw a number of 

 chamois, seven of which rushed up the mountain, sending down the stones 

 and mightily delighting the observers. 



Prom the cold and wet we have had lately, the tips of all the moun- 

 tains, which are about 6000 feet high, are covered with snow; and the 

 Gwpivah of snow-clad mountains, pine-clad sides, the clear, sparkling 

 river, and the cumulous clouds casting their shadows ever each and 

 towards the mountain-tops, produced a scene which was ti-uly delightful 

 in itself, and caused us all to think that the day was one never to be for- 

 gotten. Tou must never go to Vienna without visiting this mountain 

 gorge, which is superior to anything which I have ever seen before. It 

 is much larger and finer than the Hellerthal of the Black Mountains; 

 it is wider and finer than the gorge which you saw in Switzerland ; and 

 it is much larger, and the mountains higher, than the gorge of the 

 baths of Pfeffers, which you have so often laughed at me for so much 

 admiring. 



We are all well, and your mother is behaving like a brick, getting up 

 at seven in the morning. She is now drying some flowers. 



To-morrow we go to Trieste, thence to Venice, Hotel Europe ; but it 

 will be no use sending any more letters till we arrive at Florence, where 

 we hope to be on May 10th, in the evening. 



Semmering, May 3, 1874. 



