Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/108

98 summer was determined by the great Alpine range on which I am now writing. Here, for the last few months, it has rained incessantly, while a southeast or southwest wind carried the showers northwards. In Italy they are said to have had fine weather; indeed, a little too dry.

And now a few words on a kindred subject,—the vegetable world, which in so many ways depends on climate and moisture, and the height of the mountain ranges. Here, too, I have noticed no remarkable change, but still an improvement. In the valley before Innspruck, apples and pears are abundant; while the peaches and grapes are brought from the Welsh districts, or, in other words, the Southern Tyrol. Near Innspruck they grow a great deal of Indian corn and buckwheat, which they call blende. On the Brenner I first saw the larch, and near Schemberg the pine. Would the harper's daughter have questioned me about them also?

As regards the plants, I feel still more how perfect a tyro I am. Up to Munich I saw, I believed, none but those I was well accustomed to. In truth, my hurried travelling by day and night was not favourable to nicer observation on such objects. Now, it is true, I have my "Linnæus" at hand; and his terminology is well stamped on my brain. But whence are the time and quiet to come for analysing, which, if I at all know myself, will ever become my forte? I, therefore, sharpen my eye for the more general features; and, when I met with the first gentiana near the Walchensee, it struck me that it was always near the water that I had hitherto noticed any new plants.

What made me still more attentive was the influence which the altitude of the mountain region evidently had on plants. Not only did I meet there with new specimens, but I also observed that the growth of the old ones was materially altered. While, in the