288 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
aspect, reaching thence to a height of 
7,500 feet as low brushwood, which 
is closely cropped each autumn, and 
in its stunted growth imparts a strange 
character to the landscape. The Larch, 
forming fully nine-tenths of this wood- 
land, is cut each year from base to 
summit, shooting again from the trunk 
each summer in short branches of even 
length from top to bottom, giving the 
trees the singular appearance of a ver- 
dant pillar crowned at the top with a 
few natural branches. For the beauty 
and size of its trees the finest forest of 
Larches is that of Lauzon, crowning 
the gorges of the Reisolle over against 
the village of Saint- Paul- de-Vars. 
Other forests but little inferior are 
those of Saint- Vincent, of Lavercy, of 
Gimette, of Gache, and especially of 
Lauzet, with its crowning belt of beauti- 
ful Swiss Stone Pine. This tree (Pi7ius 
cemSra) yhsivdiev than the Larch, grows 
to the extreme of the tree-limit, forming 
the first forest belt below the snow- 
line. Unhappily its growth is very 
slow, and being subject to the inroads 
of man from the valleys, and storm and 
avalanche from above, its extent is yearly 
diminishing. It will be long indeed 
before new plantations, however cared 
for, can restore the rare beauty which 
is thus being lost. 
In our rapid survey of the Alps 
from north-west to south-east we have 
seen how various trees succeed one 
another according to prevailing condi- 
tions. First the Oak, followed upon 
higher ground by the Beech, the Silver 
Fir, and the Spruce as the prevailing 
trees ; close at hand follows the Larch, 
attended in its turn by the Mountain 
Pine, growing in sparser woods than 
its kindred, and much mixed with 
Larch in the valley of the Durance and 
its tributaries of the High Alps. Lastly, 
in the southern part of this region, 
where the mountains merge into Pro- 
vence with its sunny skies and genial 
breezes, the Alpine Stone Pine covers 
a considerable area between 6,500 and 
8,000 feet. A like succession is to be 
found when passing from the Bernese 
Oberland to Southern Valais ; and to 
further strengthen the resemblance, the 
Beech is superseded as completely in 
the one case as in the other, disappear- 
ing suddenly, and that far below the 
elevation at which it normally prospers. 
M. Christ considers that its disappear- 
ance in the Valais is due to the dryness 
of the atmosphere, and no doubt the 
same cause operates on the French 
side, in the valleys of La Blanche, La 
Bleone, and those of the Verdon and 
the Var. With the Beech there also 
disappear — again as in the Valais — all 
trace of the Holly and the Laburnum. 
Ye mountain fastnesses, I hail with 
reverence and with love thy sombre 
mantles of Pine forest, thy varying 
robes of dusky Beech and tender Larch, 
thy cloistered vistas of stately trunks 
and dim arches of waving green. I 
delight to lose myself in those verdant 
labyrinths, inhaling the pure air of their 
mountain retreat, and awed by the calm 
stillness that reigns in those green soli- 
tudes, unbroken save when the myriad 
branches are stirred with vague mur- 
murs which seem to whisper of the sea. 
Lyon. FRAN^'ISQUE MOREL. 
