62 N. H. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



climate, ai'e made into Lay with difficulty. To dry the 

 hay, it is common to set up in the meadows, at convenient 

 distances, stakes about six feet in height and with two or 

 three cross-pins, a foot and a half or two feet in length, 

 passing through near the top. The freshly mown grass is 

 twisted around the top of the stakes and between the 

 pins in bunches a couple of feet in diameter, and being 

 thus secured from the dampness of the ground, and at the 

 same time exposed to a free circulation of air, it dries 

 well in almost any weather not absolutely rainy. In some 

 Alpine valleys, the melting of the snow on ground intended 

 for cultivation is hastened by strewing over it black earth, 

 which absorbs the rays of the sun, and thus the warmth, 

 which a white and glittering surface would reflect back 

 into space, is retained, and employed in carrying ofi" the 

 snow. In similar localities, frosts are prevented by kind- 

 ling large fires of wet leaves, straw, and other rubbish. 

 The cloud of smoke raised by the combustion iills the 

 narrow space between the mountain ridges and long hovers 

 over the fields, thereby hindering the radiation of heat 

 from the earth and from plants, which is the immediate 

 cause of frost. 



In Switzerland, the alternate beauty, grandeur, and over- 

 whelming sublimity of the natural scenery is such, that the 

 traveller is little inclined to bestow upon the material 

 interests of man an attention which is almost "wholly ab- 

 sorbed by the works of his Maker. Still, he cannot but 

 be agreeably impressed with the domestic comfort, the 

 neatness of the dwellings and the farming, and the general 

 appearance of thrift which especially distinguish the Pro- 

 testant cantons. lie will observe with interest, the great 

 attention paid to the cultivation of tree-fruit, the winter 

 pear particularly, which is largely exported, and of the 

 vine in localities suited to its growth; the quaint archi- 

 tecture of the houses, with barn almost always under the 

 same roof, and hay peeping from the garret windows even 



