18 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



are hundreds of miles of mountain-side in these 

 regions where one can hardly stand with any 

 ease on the steep mountain slope, and yet there 

 are legions of lovely trees everywhere, often 

 grouped on lawn-like openings and beside the 

 streams with a beauty that no human grouping 

 of trees can rival. On quitting the lower slopes 

 of the mountains the traveller, as he ascends, 

 leaves behind him the summer-leafing trees 

 and enters the region of the Pines. These, in 

 many places, form immense forests stretching 

 up the mountain sides to a height of 7,000 to 

 8,000 feet above sea-level. One of the com- 

 monest in nearly every part of the Alps is the 

 Spruce Fir, sometimes mingled with theLarch. 

 It is seen in its greatest beauty on the limestone 

 zone, which extends along the northern side of 

 the Alps from Savoy to the Tyrol. The Larch 

 has a higher range than the Spruce, growing 

 up to about 6,000 feet, and in some parts, such 

 as the Engadine, as far as 6,700 feet. Speaking 

 generally, the zone of Larch forests extends 

 from 4,000 to 7,000 feet. Noble trees are often 

 met with in the woods, rising to a height of 

 100 to 120 feet, with a diameter, measured 

 about a yard from the ground, of 4 or 5 feet. 

 The Silver Fir is less frequent but is common 

 in the Jura and in parts of the Engadine and 

 Southern Tyrol, and rarer in the Western 

 Alps. In the Jura it reaches a height of 5,000 

 feet, but in the Engadine has a lower range. 

 On the Pennine Chain it has been found up to 

 about 6,200 feet. The Scotch Fir is abundant, 

 growing up to about 6,000 feet, but it is rare 

 in the French, Piedmontese, and Swiss Alps, 

 where it seems to be generally confined to the 

 lower land. In the southern Tyrol it is more 

 abundant, and extendstoaconsiderable height 

 above the sea,perhaps not less than 5,ooofeet. 

 The last of the Alpine forest Pines is the Swiss 

 Pine — one of the most beautiful of them all ; 

 in some districts abundant, chiefly on the Frela 

 above Livino, on the north side of the Munster 

 Thai, and in the neighbourhood of theBernina 

 and on the Stelvio, where it grows as far up as 

 8,000 feet above the sea. Nor must the Dwarf 

 Pine be omitted, although it often forms no- 

 thing more than brushwood of about 6 feet 

 high. Our engraving presents a typical scene 

 amongst these pine forests of the Alps, through 

 the more accessible parts of which rough tracks 

 are cut for summer traffic. 



NOTES OF THE YUCCA HY- 

 BRIDS FROM MY GARDEN. 



My garden is situated at Vomero, Naples, near 

 the old CastelSant' Elmo, between 7ooand 800 

 feet above the sea, and was formed about six 

 years ago. The old and very interesting castle 

 was built by Roberto the Sage about 1 343, and 

 is a romantic grey pile, containing a collection 

 of antiquities. The Vomero, a lofty hill, is a new 

 part of Naples, spread with palaces and gardens. 

 My garden is fully exposed to the winds from 

 every quarter, so that the plants are particu- 

 larly hardy. The soil is purely volcanic, easily 

 worked, fertile, and free, and all the known 

 Yuccas are thriving here, even during our 

 winters, which are not always free from frost. 

 Amongst many older favourites I cultivate all 

 the new species and varieties, very manv of them 

 received through the kindness of the Director 

 of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis, 

 Mo., U.S.A. Common in the Naples gardens 

 are T. aloifolia and its varieties, also recurvi- 

 folia, ffexilis,jilamentosa and Jiaccida glaucescens, 

 which is especially common. In the Botanic 

 Garden of Naples are also T. elephantipes, Trecu- 

 leana, australis, and gloriosa. From the Genoa 

 Botanical Garden I obtained numerous good 

 varieties of T. gloriosa, and from the splendid 

 gardens of Palermo I brought home every year 

 the flowers of many fine species or varieties 

 for hybridisation. Thus it has been possible to 

 gather together within so short a time what is 

 probably the finest existing collection of Yuc- 

 cas. The imposing T. Treculeana flowers every 

 year in many gardens of Naples, forming very 

 large trees, more particularly in the lovely old 

 garden of the late Mr. Charlesworth, and in 

 that of the Prince Colonna. The fruit-bearing 

 or " mother-plants " of my seedling varieties 

 have been the following, mostly very strong 

 pot-grown plants, but in some cases large plants 

 in the open gardens of my friends here in Na- 

 ples, and in one instance in Palermo : — T.fila- 

 mentosa andy! bracteata (in our gardens known 

 as/! major) ; T. jiaccida and its varieties glauces- 

 cens and grandijiora ; T. rupicola, T. gloriosa type 

 and its forms robusta, longifolia, and plicata ; T. 

 recurvifolia and r.folius variegata; Y.jlexilis, T. 

 Treculeana, T. Schottii, and T. aloifolia type and 

 its varieties tricolor and gigantea. This last is a 

 Naples garden variety, which seems to be un- 



