568 
a million acres are devoted to green-fodder and root-fodder crops—that 
is, crops grown to furnish food for farm animals, whether of stalks and 
leaves, as of corn, or of roots, as turnips, &c. The largest acreage of 
the former, 144,973, is found in the loam region, but the largest yield 
per acre, 10.75 tons, is in the zone of Flanders, which also produces the 
largest yield of root-fodder, 20.08 tons per acre. The “root-fodder” crops 
occupy but one-sixth of the acreage of the “* green-fodder” crops, but the 
former produce one-fourth the aggregate number of tons produced by 
the latter. The grass-crops cover a larger acreage than the wheat or 
rye crops. The loam region presents the largest acreage in meadow, 
105,556, but the largest average yield of hay, 2.25 tons per acre, is in the 
zone of Flanders. . The loam region also has the largest amount of 
land in pasture, 64,866 acres, as well as in potatoes, 113,128 acres, but 
the largest average yield of the latter, 8.03 tons per acre, is found in the 
Polders. Beans, pease, and vetches are subordinate crops. The remain- 
ing crops, hemp, flax, colza, tobacco, hops, chiccory, and sugar-beets, 
receive the local designation of ‘industrial crops” from the fact that 
they are grown to meet the demand of manufacturing establishments 
in the country. These are of very limited acreage, but open a profitable 
scope for local industry. 
SWISS AGRICULTURE. 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERS. 
In an official statement relative to Swiss agriculture, the soil of the 
republic is divided into three zones, the Alps, the Jura, and the Swiss 
plain interposed between them. The latter comprehends the south- 
west portion of the plateau extending from the passage of the Rhone, 
just below Geneva, to the defile of the Danube, near Passau. The 
Swiss plain lies between Lake Geneva on the southwest and Lake Con- 
stance on the northeast. The great plain of the Rhine, between the 
Vosges and the Black Forest, also penetrates the Swiss territory on the 
northwest. The Alps are divided into two mountain zones by a longi- 
tudinal depression, embracing the upper valleys of the Rhine and the 
Rhone and the valley of Ursern, in the canton of Uri. The mountains 
are evidently of igneous origin, their out-crops being of granite, sienite, 
diorite, serpentine, AS mica-schist, porphyry, basalt, &c. The 
Alpine region covers 574 per cent. of the Swiss territory. The medium 
altitude of this region, not considering the longitudinal and lateral 
valleys, is 8,325 feet above sea-level, the maximum, Mount Rose, being 
15,000 feet. 
The Jura range, skirting the northwestern frontier, nowhere attains 
the line of perpetual snow, its maximum altitude being 5,420 feet It is 
divided into several parallel and bifurcating chains. It shows the out- 
crop of only sedimentary rocks, especially the lower, middle, and upper 
Jurassic formations, which take their name from this locality. The 
physiognomy of the Jura notably contrasts with that of the Alps. Arid 
plains are sometimes found interposed between its ridges, but its low 
elevation admits of abundant vegetation. It is everywhere covered 
with fields, meadows, pastures, or forests. It occupies 124 per cent. of 
the national territory. 
The Swiss plain, the principal seat of the industry aud commerce of 
the country, is a plateau rising to a medium altitude between 1,200 and 
1,350 feet above the level of its great lakes. Several chains of hills and 
mountains traverse this plain; their summits reach an elevation of 
4,000 feet. In this section are found the remarkable cities and the agri- 
cultural regions of Switzerland ; it covers 301 per cent. of the republic. 
