64 DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS 



elevation in Britain. The apple, cherry, strawberry, cur- 

 rant and gooseberry, especially the last, succeed pretty 

 well. The hazel bears copiously. On the east coast of 

 Sutherland the peach will ripen against walls with the aid 

 of a glass sash, perhaps even without. Flax is frequently 

 cultivated. In the higher parts of the region there is little 

 cultivation, green close-nipped sheep pastures, swampy 

 bogs, or dry heaths constitute the prevailing features of 

 the landscape. Trees are now comparatively scarce, 

 though once plentiful, and the land is chiefly devoted to 

 sheep pasture, with little further attention from human 

 industry than the occasional burning off the natural cover- 

 ing of EricineaB, in order to produce a more grassy pastur- 

 age. It has here altogether the aspect of a country where 

 man is feebly struggling against the natural barrenness of 

 the soil and a deteriorated climate. The scattered spots, 

 devoted to the cultivation of potatoes and barley, are in- 

 sufficient to give a more cheerful look, but rather tend to 

 make the surrounding barrenness more apparent. We 

 are not, however, to suppose that the climate is here so 

 very bad. These scattered patches of cultivation prove 

 the contrary. But the scanty clothing of soil on the dry 

 declivities, and the sterile and often swampy nature of 

 that in the valleys and flattened places, make it useless to 

 employ labour and capital on land, which cannot make a 

 return sufficiently ample to compete with returns for ex- 

 penditure bestowed on more productive tracts. In various 

 parts of the upland region are highly cultivated and pro- 

 ductive tracts, but such scarcely rise above the middle. 



3. TJie Median Region is a narrow belt just above the 

 upper limit of cultivation and the growth of cupuliferous 

 trees (oak and hazel). Silene acaulis early appears under 

 rocks, or on debris carried down by streams, descending 

 to 500 or 600 yds in Caernarvon and Cumberland, and 

 400 yds in the west of Inverness-shire ; but it does not 



