172 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



(shillings) a day. They are, however, an extremely hard- 

 working set of people. They walk or cycle long distances to 

 their work, and they have much longer hours than British 

 workmen. Most of those workmen are either small-holders 

 themselves or they are the relatives of small-holders, and 

 generally, but not always, they are the owners of their little 

 farms. The average size of such a holding is about 12 acres. 



In limestone soils on the slopes, the vine is one of the chief 

 crops, and it requires a large amount of hand labour during the 

 summer season. The cattle, which do a great deal of the 

 carting work in the forest, are all stall fed. The grass is mowed 

 for hay at least twice during a season. The farmyard manure 

 is used chiefly for the vines, and much artificial manure is also 

 required both for the vines and for the ordinary field and market 

 garden crops. The system of cultivation of these holdings has 

 therefore of necessity to be of an intensive character. There is no 

 waste land in the sense in which we use the term. Practically 

 every yard of soil is utilised. 



Large farms are also to be met with, but they are not so 

 numerous as the small holdings. The whole of the valleys 

 present a charming and varied picture, made up of cultivated 

 farms, grass meadows and vineyards. Here and there in the 

 lower hills the oak and beech forests obtrude themselves, while 

 higher up in the mountains, where cultivation is no longer 

 possible, an intense system of forestry, with the silver fir as its 

 main element, prevails. The towering mountains, the apparently 

 irregular character of the forest, the deep valleys, the clear 

 running streams, all add a variety and a charm to the scenery 

 which is entirely absent in localties having what may be called 

 a more artificial system of forestry. 



Probably no patriotic Briton would willingly admit that the 

 scenery is equal to our own, but surely not even the most 

 fastidious lover of the beautiful in nature could take any excep- 

 tion, from the aesthetic point of view, to such a system of forestry 

 as prevails in Baden. 



But to return to the question of labour supply. The small- 

 holder, living in the village or town in the valley, is very fully 

 employed during spring and summer on his own farm or on his 

 vineyard, but during late autumn and winter he has very little to 

 occupy his time, and he generally turns to the forest for employ- 

 ment. This is an arrangement which works admirably. It 



