572 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



There are large portions of Switzerland wholly devoted to 

 pasturage, and which, from their inaccessibility to the plough. 

 can be applied to no other purpose. In these cases, where cows 

 cannot go, goats find their way. But wherever the plough or 

 the spade can be used they are diligently employed, and this 

 activity is stimulated in many parts of the country by a dire 

 struggle to procure a subsistence under circumstances most inau 

 spicious and severe. In parts of Switzerland, the melting of the 

 snow on small patches of ground is hastened by throwing small 

 fragments of slate-stone upon it ; such, I may say, is the necessary 

 impatience to get at the ground seasonably to put the seed in 

 for a crop. 



In some parts the country is open, and fields of considerable 

 extent are under admirable cultivation ; in other places, the 

 smallest nook, the least patch by a running stream, and the most 

 secluded valley, will be husbanded with the greatest care. The 

 valley of Chamouni, enclosed by lofty mountains covered with 

 the snows of untold centuries, and running at the very foot of 

 Mont Blanc, the sublime monarch of these Alpine heights, was 

 green and beautiful, waving with crops of grain ; and when I 

 was there, covered with merry hay-makers. I may acid, that 

 these haymakers were almost all of them stout and active wo 

 men, whom I saw mowing as well as making, raking, and loading 

 hay. They were very cheerful and seemed to enjoy ruddy health. 



In the arable districts of Switzerland I was told that the farms 

 consisted usually of fifty acres, and many of these farms gave 

 the strongest indications of independence and comfort. The 

 farms in Switzerland are divided by fences; and, with the 

 exception of the loftiest heights, it may be said that a Swiss 

 very much resembles a New England landscape. 



CXLV. HOP WYL. IRRIGATION. 



I visited in Switzerland the celebrated establishment of the 

 late Mr. De Fellenberg, at Hofwyl, near Berne, for education. 

 No school is better known; and it is believed that none ever 



