The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-04-05
a FAMOUS FLOWER.
Wholesale Destruction Of Ede!Weis5
Stopped in Switzerland.

Every traveller in Switzerland is ia
miliar With the tender star-shaped
flowers of this curious plant, whose
sage green blossoms are stuck into
the hat Of every guide and collected
with rare ingenuity by the importu-
nate little raScals who race the car
RACES on the road, or start out like
rabbits from the bushes as the pedes-
TRAN begins his solitary climb. The
plant is scarce and very partial. 1t
is found in the Engadine, seldom in
the Bernese Overland, and has par
ticular corners and mountains that it
loves to affect. This scarcity and
partiality gave to the edelweiss Il
somewhat unhealthy notoriety, ac-
cording to the Philadelphia Times.
The rarer it becomes the more ambi-
tious were the eXcursionists to obtain
Il sprig. Some years ago every cock
ney hat was adorned with the curious
bloom feathered. AZ its botanical name
applies, like an old man. beard, and
il was no longer Il sign of patience
and endurance 10 wear this pretty
badge that hitherto had denoted Il
long climb and patient search.
When tourists began to brand their
alpenstocks down in the valley with
the name of q mountain whose base
thcy touched, but whose top they
never attempted to reach, then was
| edelweiss sold by the handful at In
tcrlaken Chamounix and Grindel-
valid, and the guides, porters and
/ boys were tempted to rifle the noun
tains Of their peerless flowers. When
| the rage for art green's came upon us
in full force aesthetic young ladies
I hattered themselves that wreath of
/ these soft petals would look becoming
in the hair, and some went so far as
to appear at fancy balls in the char
ter OF The Alps smothcred in edel-
weiss.
As for the flower itself, it refused
to be in any way gracious at the touch
of the botanist and sternly declined
to be transplanted. The more obsti-
nate was the edelweiss the more de-
termined became the florists, and
they purchased it by the root, care
fully tended it during the journey
home, nursed it across the sea,
watched it at every railway station
and handed it to the family gardener
i'm order to hear in few days that the
plant, sickening and signing for its
mountain home had refused to exist
in England with the aid Of any artif-
cial process. There have been only
one or two rare and exceptional cases
where the edelWeiss was induced to
live and give forth flowers in England,
and then the result was only obtained
by system of nursing that would
have worn out the majority of botan-
lists.
At last the Swiss government deter
mined to put down by law the whole
sale destruction of this popular
flower. 1t was rapidly disappearing
altogether from the country when an
enactment made it penal to take a
plant up by the roots. The dignity
and Importance of legislation gave a
new impetus to the interest that was
attached to the plant, and going in
search of the edelwess became as at
tractiye a source of danger as any to
be found in Switzerland. Unaccom.
panied by guides, and straying from
} the beaten tracks, more than one
tourist has rislled his life, and several
have been killed in the quest
Washington Star.
IT is alleged that on the island OF
Leri, in the Gulf Of California, not
more than sixty miles from the Mex.
lean mainland, there are remnants OF
race of giant cannibals. This start.
ling discovery was made early in 1891
and has since been affirmed by both
United States and Mexican explorers
-[Goldthwaite's Geographical Mag.