of this world of bloom. For Schynige Platte, June 11 ; for
Pilatus, June 18 ; for the Simplon plateau, June 20 — these
are the critical periods, though they may be retarded by bad
weather for from eight to fourteen days. If you can seize
the right moment there is nothing in the world comparable
to this truly intoxicating lovehness. The large flowers,
standing close to one another, actually conceal the lowly,
small-leaved plants, so that the green is but half-seen through
the glowing colours of the blossoms, among which one walks
with hesitating steps. The tender rose of the mealy primrose
and of the cushion Silene, the cold white of the anemones,
the bright burning yellow of the hawkweeds, the deep bur-
nished copper of the Bartsias, the equally deep but fiery blue
of the gentians whose heavj^ clusters cover the ground, and,



106 MEADOW, WOOD, AND PASTUKE IN ALPS

above all, the velvety purple of the fragrant violet {Viola
calcarata), which blooms in countless numbers — these form
the chief tones in the glowing carpet, which is besprinkled
with countless dewdrops glittering like diamonds. On the
Simplon to these flowers are added the rare adornment of the
snow-white rosettes of Senecio incana, with its orange flowers,
the deep blood-red of the houseleeks and Pedicularis, the
purity of the Alpine hhes (Paradisia), the purple and gold of
the alpine aster, the woolly grey of the edelweiss, the deep
yellow of the Androsace and the blue of Eritrichium, which
rivals the azure sky of the southern Alps in the soft intensity
of its colour/

The traveller is fortunate indeed who can see this glory
in its prime, but even the late comer, if he be wilUng to chmb,
may see some traces of the spring splendour, and, if the
general efiect be less striking, he may enjoy a perhaps in-
tenser pleasure in the detailed contemplation of the last
representatives of the bright band. Even in August one may
find, at least in a late season, soUtary bells of Soldanella
unfolding on damp patches from which the snow has just
cleared, and these dehcate fringed cups, with their graceful
droop earthward, are in themselves a great joy. But in that
month one must be content with an occasional bloom of
primula and anemone, culled with care from a waste of
feathery fruits or swelhng capsules — and seek consolation on
the lower ground in the scarlet of the barberry fruits and the
glorious orange of the buckthorn berries among the silver
fohage — sights which the June traveller cannot hope to
enjoy.

But where are the splendours which Christ describes to
be sought by the June traveller ? There are, broadly speak-
ing, two main kinds of alpine meadows. In the open basins
of the valleys, on the gentler slopes, within the zone of the
fir-woods, but in parts where the wood does not exist or has
been cleared, are to be found the hay meadows. Here the



I'LATK XIII




Basin with Gokok akovk in the X .u. hk 15A(iNES, Switzerland.
Note the hamlet placed on the cone brought down by the right-
hand stream. The surrounding clearings are mai/ens or spring
pasturages, the basin (altitudo nearly .")0()0 feet) being above the
limit of cultivation.



THE MEADOWS 107

grass and flowers grow tall ; here in autumn one may see
the peasants, often the women, laboriously spreading the
manure which replaces the substances carried oi? in the hay ;
here in summer, in June, July, or even August, according
to the position and the season, one sees the whole family
toiUng in the blazing sun at the hay-making, or on the days
of pouring rain the men and women still patiently cutting
the grass, hoping that a bright to-morrow may yet dawn.

These meadows are generally fenced, either with a perma-
nent fence or with bars of wood which can be removed once
the precious crop is cut. Between the fences run the narrow
stony lanes which lead to the chalets, up and down which
the peasants clatter in their sabots or pattens, and the tourists
and their guides in their nailed boots. Here also one may see
the patient donkey, all but concealed by the load of hay,
steadied on its precarious downward journey by a ragged
urchin who hangs to its tail. If the path be somewhat less
narrow and less steep, one may see that ingenious vehicle
which is a narrow two-wheeled cart on the upw^ard journey,
and a sledge on the downward one, the unused wheels running
behind the loaded sledge as it slips over the cobbles, polished
by the tread of many feet. As he toils beneath the mid-
summer sun the peasant has ever before him the menace of
the day when valley and slope will be alike drowned in snow,
and his cherished hay is the only means he has of feeding
his beasts. Therefore wherever he can reach the grass, and
wherever it can be carried after cutting, by man or beast
or sledge, to his cattle sheds, there he makes hay.

But above the fir-woods there comes other pasturages,
snow-covered till late in the season, yielding a dense growth
of nutritious grass and herbs which never reach a great height,
separated from the valley below by slopes too steep for the
carrying of the grass, even could the short stocky growth be
cut — these are the upland pastures, not safe from a snow-
covering even in full summer, but furnishing abundant food



108 MEADOW, WOOD, AND TASTUKE IN ALPS

to cattle, goats, and the fewer sheep for a longer or shorter
period of the year. These are the true alps, and here and
on the rocky slopes above grow the most gorgeous, the most
characteristic of the alpine flowers, those which only to the
gardener deserve the name of alpine, those with the typically
large flowers which, as Christ says, seem to conceal the small
leaves. It is these especially which in their form and structure
show most markedly the effect of the mountain habitat.

Before speaking of a few of the most striking forms, let us
note in a word or two the relation of hay meadow, wood, and
alp, as one may see all three in almost any Alpine valley.

Let us suppose that, as often happens, we are leaving one of
the main valleys to travel up a lateral one. In most cases
we find that at first the road, whether carriage road or mere
track, winds steeply upwards through fir-woods, generally
some distance from the stream, which may be heard thunder-
ing through a rocky gorge far below. If the road be practi-
cable for vehicles it takes great curves, always cut off by
short cuts for pedestrians, and even if it be a mere mule
track, there is generally a distinction between the route taken
by the loaded animals on the upward journey, and that
taken by the walker going light on the downward journey.

As we chmb upwards we have time to note the characteristic
woodland vegetation. Soon, however, the slope eases off,
and we enter a basin, where the stream runs tranquilly
between meadows, and the walls of the valley recede, the
fir-woods receding with them. Beyond the basin the valley
again rises steeply, and another basin follows in due course.
Almost any of the Alpine valleys will show this phenomenon,
on a smaller or larger scale, with greater or less definiteness.
Sometimes the basin contains a beautiful lake, often the
intervening steep stretch shows splendid waterfalls and
rapids, but in essence this alternation of gorge and basin, or,
as the French say, of landing {palter) and rapid, is character-
istic of river valleys whose general slope is steep (Plate XIII.).



ALPINE PASSES 109

In the Alps the phenomenon has been accentuated by the
recent passing away of the glaciers of the Ice Age, but it
is not wholly a glacial phenomenon.

At the head of the valley various conditions occur. Some-
times, as at Zermatt, the last basin holds the highest village,
and seems to be directly overhung by the glaciers, whose
milky torrents foam down the mountain sides to form or join
the main stream. In such a case access to the valleys at the
other side of the chain is only possible over glacier passes.
In other cases, as happens in the case of most of the famous
Alpine passes, the last steep slope leads to a wide grassy plain,
bearing one or several lakes, bitterly cold and wind-swept,
cut off from the valleys at both sides by slopes of great steep-
ness. Often there is a very uncertain water-parting at the
summit, one stream rising from the lake, and the other
from the hillside not far away. Beside the summit lake there
is generally a hospice, where one tries to warm one's chilled
hands and feet, before the diligence starts on its jolting way
down to the fertile valley beyond. Almost any pass the
Mt. Cenis, the httle St. Bernard, the San Bernardino,
and so forth — will show in varying form similar conditions.

Now let us consider in a little more detail the characters
of the different sections of such a valley journey. As we
walk up the steep stretches through the woods by the short
cuts, we find it difficult to resist the temptation to push
through the brushwood to have a nearer view of the roaring
stream. In Switzerland the existence of this desire in the
mind of the ordinary tourist is generally recognised by the
shrewd native, and so we find that paths are cut, steps and
staircases arranged, seats provided and so forth, so that —
at of course a small outlay — the finest part of the gorge is
accessible. There we can note how the water is cutting
down through the solid rock ; in the summer flood we
can hear the rattle of the stones swept along the bottom,
stones which eat out the deep pot-holes : in technical



/



/



110 MEADOW, WOOD, AND PASTUKE IN ALPS

language, we see the river at its work of erosion. The
steepest bit of the road, the finest gorge, are generally
just before we reach the basin, for the water has been
dammed back by a bar of hard rock (the verrou, as the
French call it), and it is this damming back which helped
to form the basin above. In the basin we see no rock at
the sides of the stream, only deposits of silt and stones.
The basin owes its prime origin to the existence of softer
rocks, easily worn away, and the river there no longer
shows its erosive but its depositing function. If there be
no lake, the ground near the stream is likely to be more
or less marshy. It grows lush grasses and reeds. As we
pass away from the stream we come to drier ground, but
still ground where the native rock is covered by a deep deposit
of silt. The basin is the natural site for the village, though,
if the valley be narrow, this tends to be placed on the slopes
above its floor, to escape the accumulation of cold, stagnating
air in winter. Part of the reason why the village is placed
in the basin is that here, as compared with the steeper
slopes above and below, there is often land fit for cultivation.
Whether or not it bears cereal and other crops depends upon
the elevation, the exposure, the local climate, and also on social
conditions. Originally the lower villages at least were more
or less self-supporting and grew cereals for their own use.
With the opening up of so many of the valleys to tourists,
the natives tend to specialise more and more upon the pastoral
industry, and to use the once cultivated fields for hay
crops.

Such meadows are carefully manured, are irrigated if
need be in summer, and are fenced. They grow many kinds
of grasses. Among the grasses we see many composites,
tall umbelhferous plants, many kinds of campanula and
speedwell, vetches and clovers, the bright blue sage, the
taller gentians, especially the yellow gentian of medicine.
In autumn also these meadows are purple with the autumn



THE HIGH PASTURES 111

colchicum, while the rare spring visitor will see the spring
crocus in equal abundance.

The glacial shelves high up on the valley walls, and the
similar shelves and passes at the heads of the valley are
hkewise grass-grown, but their flora is different. Here
there is no depth of soil, for the surface has been scoured by
ice and only a thin stony deposit intervenes between the
surface and the underlying rock, except where some special
cause has led to a greater local accumulation of fine glacial
silt. But up here erosion is at its maximum, and the streams
of summer, the snow of winter (always dust-loaded), are
continually renewing the fertility of the shallow soil. Here
therefore no manure is necessary ; the soil is enriched by
the droppings of the pasturing cattle, and what is removed
from the ground in the cheese carried down to the valley is
renewed by the forces of nature.

Nevertheless the pastures require careful management ;
they must not be over-grazed, for if the surface-covering be
once destroyed the soil is washed away and it may be impos-
sible to renew the turf ; in the drier regions, as in the Valais,
they must be irrigated with fertilising glacial water in summer,
and stream regulation may have to be carried on to minimise
destruction by torrents. The lower pastures also must be
protected by belts of wood which help to prevent destructive
flooding.

In these high pastures the plants never reach a great size.
The intensity of the insolation checks vegetative growth, and
height growth would in any case bring increased danger of
frost ; the plants are therefore ' stocky ' in habit, and, as
compared with their alUes on the lower pastures, contain far
less woody matter. They form therefore a far more nutri-
tious food for cattle than those of lower levels. As the soil
is scanty and shifting except in crevices it is an advantage
for the plants to have long tap roots, but these go down to
layers of soil which are very cold, and where it is therefore



112 MEADOW, WOOD, AND PASTUKE IN ALPS

difficult for the plant to take up water. Therefore the
alpines economise water as much as possible ; they tend to
be hairy (edelweiss, glacial anemone), or to have fleshy leaves
(houseleeks and alpine Linaria) ; they have a characteristic
tufted or cushion mode of growth (cushion Silene) which
prevents loss of water, and diminishes also the risk of damage
fi'om snow ; their leaves are nearly always small (cf. p. 61).
Finally, the brilliant flowers are partly due directly to the
bright Hght, are partly a common feature of drought-resisting
plants (cf. p. 62), and are perhaps partly necessary to attract
the few insects of the heights. The fact that the plants are
all low-growing and lie close to the soil, makes those of the
pastures which he on steep slopes difficult to walk upon,
especially in dry seasons. Many of the ' edelweiss accidents '
are due to this fact, the incautious tourist venturing without
properly nailed boots on grassy slopes too shppery for the
footing to be regained after a shp.

We cannot attempt to give a list even of the most charac-
teristic of the high alpines ; they are best studied on the
spot. But we may notice that edelweiss, rare in North
Switzerland, is common in the south, save where it has been
rooted up, and is generally found in company with alpine
aster ; the smaller gentians, e.g. the snow gentian, are as
frequent on the heights as their larger alHes in the lower
meadows ; anemones are abundant, the glacial anemone
extending to great heights ; many forms of primula, especially
the alpine one, and the mealy primrose, Androsaces, the tiny
Globularia, Soldanellas, the cushion Silene, the saxifrages and
houseleeks, and the purple and yellow alpine Linaria are all
of common occurrence.

Those are happy days when one wanders over the high
pastures, picking these and many another treasure ; now
scrambhng over the moraine down to the border of the
glacier, now lounging by the edge of some tiny lake, floating
the cups of blue gentians over the mirrored snow peaks, or



ALPINE FLORAS 113

listening with half-shut eyes to the distant tinkle of the cow-
bell, or laying down the law to one's companions with more
strength of conviction than detailed knowledge in regard
to the name of this or that peak, or the correct route up
each. Where is joy to be found on earth if not here in this
splendid, undefiled air, with all the glories of sky and moun-
tain around one ?

References. There are a great number of Alpine floras, and those
who do not care to burden their luggage by carrying a book out, can
generally pick up some one or other of these in the chief resorts. A
very handy little book of small size is Dalle-Torre's Tourist's Guide
to the Flora of the A Ips, translated by Alfred Bennett, which slips easily
into the pocket. Bennett's OAvn book. The Flora of the Alps, in two
volumes, with coloured illustrations, is useful but rather bulky. One
of the best general books on the plants of Switzerland, though like
those already mentioned it is a little old-fashioned, is Christ's Das
Pflanzenlehen der Schweiz, with some useful maps. More modern and
much more detailed is Dr. Riibel's PJlanzengeographische Moiiographie
des Bernituigebietes, which gives information in regard to a much- visited
region, and has a copious bibliography. Schroter's Das PJlanzenleben
der Alpen, and the small book, by the same author, called Taschen-
Jlora des Al pen-Wanderers, with good illustrations, should also be
mentioned. Dr. Norbert Krebs' Laenderkmule der Oesterreichischen
Alpen gives some details in regard to the vegetation of the Austrian
Alps, as well as in regard to many other matters, and has also an
extensive bibhography. The alpines of the Pyrenees are discussed
in Sorre's Pyrenees Mediterraniennes, already mentioned.



H



CHAPTER X

MOORS AND HEATHS

' An acre of barren ground ; long heath, brown furze — anything.'

So far we have shown that the traveller in Europe is especially
fortunate in that there those tracts of land which are largely
uncultivated, and therefore bear more or less their original
vegetation, are characterised by a considerable variety of
plant formations, and it is, of course, such uncultivated
regions that botanically-minded tourists chiefly visit. Thus
for spring and winter hohdays he has before him the some-
what infrequent evergreen forests and the more abundant
maquis and garigues of the Mediterranean region ; summer
gives him opportunity to study the remnants of the original
European forest, as represented by deciduous woods in the
lower grounds, and coniferous forests on the higher ; in
summer also he can study the splendours of the mountain
flora, with its double interest of adaptation to present condi-
tions, and reminiscences of past ones, when the plants of
Central and Northern Europe, like the animals, alternately
advanced and retreated with the fluctuations of the ice.
There remains one other kind of formation, not yet con-
sidered, wliich occurs over wide stretches of land, and, since
its presence involves the assumption of poverty of soil, these
stretches also are more or less available for the purpose of
the tourist. This type is that of moors and heaths, which
occupy a large area in north-west Germany, especially in
Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Oldenburg, also in Jutland, in

114



PLATK XIV




Pine ami ^loor — the Conflict.



PEAT AND ITS ORIGIN 115

Belgium and Holland, in parts of northern and western
France, as well as in England, Ireland and Scotland.

These tracts of land are now in process of being studied
from the standpoint of ecological botany, and it is rather
unfortunate that the words which the botanists employ have
another sense in ordinary speech, while the matter is further
complicated by the fact that the dictionary equivalents of
the French and German words used to denote moors and
heaths, do not precisely represent the plant formations as
they occur in nature. We shall treat the subject here in
the simplest way possible, omitting minor formations, such
as the EngUsh fens, and all the subtleties of nomenclature
based upon the predominance of particular plants in a moor
or heath.

Moors and most heaths have this in common, that the
surface soil consists of peat, or, as it is called botanically,
acid humus, whose presence again indicates that the oceanic
cUmate is present in its extreme form. Wherever we have
peat we find that there is a high rainfall, evenly distributed
throughout the year, and a small range of temperature. The
summers are cool and wet, the winters mild and wet, and
long spells of frost and drought are ahke unknown.

Obviously, however, this is not the whole story, for this
chmate reigns to a greater or less degree over practically the
whole of Ireland and the whole of Scotland, and these countries
are far from being uniformly covered with peat. We shall
return in a moment to the question of what determines the
origin of peat, so far as this is known. Meantime let us note
what the botanists regard as the distinction between heath
and moor. Heaths occur over poor sandy and gravelly soils,
on the surface of which lies a layer of peat, varying greatly
in thickness but never so deep that the underlying gravelly
or sandy soil fails to assert its influence upon the plant life.
In patches on such heaths we generally find hollows where
the peat has accumulated to great depths, and there the



116 MOORS AND HEATHS

prevailing heather of the heath proper is replaced by other
plants, or occurs mingled with them. Such patches approach
the moor type. In the western parts of the British Isles,
especially in parts of the western Highlands of Scotland,
there occur, interspersed with less repellent formations,
large tracts of true moor, that is of regions where there is a
deposit of peat so deep that the nature of the underlying rock
does not affect plant hfe. In such regions a ' tussock ' growth
of plants, e.g. of cotton grass, dwarf sedge and dwarf rush, is
characteristic ; heather, though generally present, does not
predominate ; areas of quaking bog occur, and the surface is
difficult to traverse and difficult to utilise in any fashion what-
ever — such regions are botanically typical ' moors.' It will
appear from this description that botanically the ordinary
' grouse moor ' of Yorkshire or of the eastern Scottish High-
lands {e.g. of Perthshire) (Plate XV.), with its predominance of
heather, is a heath and not a moor, though it may be inter-
sected by patches of true moor. This botanical use of the
terms is based upon the German use. In southern and midland
England a heath is generally regarded, in popular speech,
as a stretch of open ground covered with heather, or oftener
perhaps with whin or bracken and their associates, but
always dry enough to walk upon with comfort, the dryness
being due to the thinness of the layer of peat, and the porous
nature of the underlying rock, which is often sandstone.
As the similar tracts in the north of England and in Scotland
are wetter and have a deeper layer of peat, there is a more
or less tacit understanding that a moor is wet, as compared
with a dry heath. The botanists, as we have seen, wish to
impose a fresh significance on the top of this popular one.
Whether such a refinement can persist in face of the popular
use is a little doubtful, but it is important, from several
points of view and especially in connection with afforestation,
that the fact should be reahsed that there is a marked con-
trast between the more or less uniformly heather-covered



PLATK XV




Tlie Moor triumphant.
Note the alders at the margin of the stream.



FORMATION OF GARDEN SOIL 117

areas, underlain by a relatively thin layer of peat resting
upon a poor porous soil, and those other tracts where heather
does not predominate and may even be absent, and a dense
continuous mass of peat separates the growing plants from
the underlying soil or rock.

The distinction is of course one of degree, not of kind, for
though the botanist indoors may say concisely that a parti-
cular region is heath if the underlying sand or gravel is affect-
ing the life of the plants, and a moor if their physiology is
influenced by the peat alone, yet in the field he knows
perfectly well that it is, at least as yet, not always possible
to say in every case which of the two conditions prevails.
The matter is further compUcated by the fact that in some
of the heaths of south-east England there is practically no
peat at all, and the heath formation is due only to the poor
sandy soil.

Now let us turn to the difficult question of the cause of
peat formation. Under ordinary circumstances dead plants
or parts of plants decay rapidly after death, and mingle with
the other constituents of the soil to give the whole a dark
colour. The process of decay hberates substances which
are necessary for the growth of new plants, and there is thus
a connection between the fertility of the soil and the amount
of this ' mild humus ' present. Ordinary garden soil is full