Book 1. AGRICULTURE IN SWITZERLAND. 6S 



354. By farming land, is understood, letting it at a fixed rent, to be paid according to the value of the 

 produce, taken at an average of ten years. 



2i5b. By grangers, or renting l^nd cL moitie fruit, is understood, that the proprietor takes half of all 

 the grain and fruit, half the produce or encrease of the cows, half the eggs, and, in short, half of 

 every thing which is productive. 



356. Bytacheurs, is another mode of cultivating land, in the immediate vicinity of towns. The pro- 

 prietors, to avoid keeping too many servants in their own houses, place a father of a family in the house 

 upon the farm. This man is called le tacheur : he takes care of the cows, for half their produce : he 

 ploughs the ground, receiving for every pair of oxen employed, or for three horses, from seventy to eighty 

 francs per annum : he has half the wine : the share he receives of the wheat and grain is in the proportion 

 of two parts for every nine taken by the proprietor. The latter pays all the taxes, and keeps the accounts : 

 the tacheur may be changed every year : when he is employed in repairing fences, &c. he is paid by the 

 day ; this is always undertaken when he enters the farm. 



357. The leases granted to ^/ie /armers and grangers, are on terms of three, six, or 

 nine years ; but when the leases are for six or nine years, a reservation is always made, 

 that at the expiration of every three years the proprietor may revoke the lease, by giving 

 three months' notice, if he be not satisfied with the tenant. The proprietor always 

 supplies the farmer or granger with a sum of money without interest, called chaptal 

 (capital), to aid him in buying oxen; for a farm of two oxen it is generally about 

 twenty louis ; for a farm of four oxen, forty louis and so on. The proprietor, for this 

 sum, has an exclusive right to seize the cattle^of the farmer, should he sell them clan- 

 destinely. 



358. The mode of pasturage in Chamouny will apply, with little variation, to all the 

 Alpine communes in Savoy. " The rich peasants in the Alps possess meadows, and 

 even habitations at different heights. In winter they live in the bottom of the valley, 

 but they quit it in spring, and ascend gradually, as the heat pushes out vegetation. In 

 autumn they descend by the same gradation. Those who are less rich have a resource in 

 the common pastures, to which they send a number of cows, proportionate to their re- 

 sources, and their means of keeping them during the winter. The poor, who have no 

 meadows to supply fodder for the winter, cannot avail themselves of this advantage. 

 Eight days after the cows have been driven up into the common pasture, all the owners 

 assemble, and the quantity of milk from each cow is weighed. The same operation is 

 repeated one day in the middle of the summer, and at the end of the season, the quantity 

 of cheese and butter is divided, according to the quantity of milk each cow yielded on 

 the days of trial. 



359. There are chalets, or public dairies, near the mountain pastures in Savoy, as well as in Switzerland ; 

 persons reside in these chalets during the summer months, to make cheese and butter. In many situ- 

 ations it is the labor of a day to ascend to these chalets, and return to the valleys immediately below 

 them. There are also public dairies in some of the villages, where the poorer peasants may bring all the 

 milk they can spare, from the daily consumption of their families. The milk is measured, and an account 

 kept of it ; and at the end of the season the due portion of cheese is allotted to each, after a small deduction 

 for the expense of making. 



360. Of sheep. No large flocks are kept in Savoy, as it is necessary to house them during the winter, 

 at which time they are principally fed with dried leaves of trees, collected during the autumn. Many 

 poor families keep a few sheep to supply them with wool for their domestic use. These little flocks are 

 driven home every evening, and are almost always accompanied by a goat, a cow, a pig, or an ass, and 

 followed by a young girl spinning with a distaff As they wind down the lower slopes of the mountains, 

 they form the most picturesque groups for the pencil of the painter, and seen at a distance, carry back the 

 imagination to the ages of pastoral simplicity, sung by Theocritus and Virgil. 



361. The vineyards\n Savoy are cultivated for half the produce of the wine. The 

 cultivator pays the whole expense, except the taxes, which are paid by the proprietor. 



362. Walnut-trees, of immense size and great beauty, enrich the scenery of Savoy, and 

 supply sufficient oil for the consumption of the inhabitants, and for the adjoining canton 

 of Geneva. Walnuts have been called the olive of the country. The trees belong 

 principally to the larger proprietors. They are planted by nature, being scattered over 

 the fields, and in the woods and hedge-rows, intermixed with chestnut and forest trees of 

 various kinds. (Bakewell.) 



363. The walnut-harvest at Chateau Duing commences in September : " they are beaten 

 off the trees with long poles ; the green husks are taken off as soon as they begin to de- 

 cay ; the walnuts are then laid in a chamber to dry, where they remain till November, 

 when the process of making the oil commences. The first operation is to crack the nuts, 

 and take out the kernel : for this purpose several of the neighboring peasants, with their 

 wives and elder children, assembled at the chateau of an evening, after their work was 

 done. The party generally consisted of about thirty persons, who were placed around 

 a long table in the kitchen ; one man sat at each end of the table, with a small mallet to 

 crack the nuts by hitting them on the point : as fast as they are cracked, they are dis- 

 tributed to the other persons around the table, who take the kernels out of the shell, and 

 remove the inner part ; but they are not peele J. The peasants of Savoy are naturally 

 lively and loquacious ; and they enliven their labor with facetious stories, jokes, and 

 noisy mirth. About ten o'clock the table is cleared to make room for the goute, or sup- 

 per, consisting of dried fruit, vegetables, and wine ; and the remainder of the evening 

 is spent in singing and dancing, which is sometimes continued till midnight. In a 

 favorable season the number of walnuts from the Duing estate is so great, that the party 

 assemble in this manner every evening for a fortnight, before all the walnuts are cracked ; 



