978 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



house. The hotel became a sort of Ark : nothing was to be seen from 

 the windows but water and clouds. But for persons in good health, who 

 can take long walks, it is in fine weather an interesting place for scenery 

 and sketching, rather than for flowers. The Dente del Lupo, with its 

 magnificent double peak, is seen above a narrow Pine -clad valley to the 

 south, seeming quite to tower and hang over the village itself. It is one 

 of the most striking mountain views that can be found. Then, above the 

 village, on the Engadine road, are an old brown castle tower and a church 

 with a white campanile perched on a rock, which completely closes the 

 top of the Promontogno valley. There is certainly plenty of good 

 sketching here. 



But the flowers are scarcely equal to those of the same altitudes in 

 other parts of Switzerland. I found nothing out of the way. There were 

 quantities of the large St. Bruno's Lilies, besides the smaller Anthericum 

 named after St. Bernard. The meadows were gay with Globe-flowers, 

 Pinks, Harebells, pink Snake-grass, Salvias, large purple and pink Milk- 

 worts and the usual field flowers, but not much else. The Foxtail 

 Saxifrages were, however, in full bloom, and simply magnificent ; one 

 could see them from right across the valley, and here and there among 

 them were Orange Lilies, spots of bright scarlet. I was not able to take 

 many long walks, and so cannot speak fully as to the flowers, but one 

 day I walked up the valley till stopped by the snow at the foot of the 

 precipices of the Dente del Lupo. I found the Alpine Myosotis, besides 

 the Water Forget-me-not, which grows all over this damp valley, even 

 on high and now dry meadows ; Alpine Rhododendrons (the earlier kind, 

 ferrugineum) just coming out; some belated Cowslips, Dog Violets of 

 various kinds and colours, and of course the yellow Viola biflora, and 

 by one stream a patch of the glorious large blue Pinguicula. Primula 

 viscosa was over, lower down, and, as might be expected, did not grow 

 on the side of the valley facing east, on which the path was, but it was 

 in blossom, sparsely, on the opposite side facing west. Here was a lesson 

 for gardeners, showing how plants depend on aspect. This valley and 

 its torrent run north and south. The afternoon sun being far hotter 

 than the morning, all the snow patches were of course on the side facing 

 east, and reason, if not instinct, should tell one what flowers would be 

 found on the one side or the other, according as they could stand the 

 baking of summer or not. And the Daphne Mczcreum gave a good 

 illustration. There was scarcely a plant on the side facing west, those 

 in the meadows in the wider part of the valley were in full leaf with 

 full-sized berries, while not a hundred yards off, on the side of the cold 

 steep east aspect, it was still in full blossom and sweet-scented. One 

 side of a valley which you could cross in less than five minutes was thus 

 clearly at least six weeks of the year behind the other. These deep 

 narrow valleys are, however, not favourable to the growth of flowers. 

 I found but one Gentian blossom and one flowerless plant besides. 

 There is not enough sun or free air, and too much draught. We are 

 beginning to learn that human beings are like flowers in this respect, 

 and that delicate people should not be shut up, but given all the light 

 and air possible. It is not, however, so certain that the difference be- 

 tween draughts and a free circulation of air is so well understood. Many 



