114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Berne, though by no means the only khid of cattle kept in the 

 canton. They are very common in the Bernese Oberland, and 

 extend up into the Simmenthal and Saanen, where they are 

 often found encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the true Sim- 

 menthalers. 



The Simmenthaler cow is more frequently a sort of brownish 

 red. Sometimes she has a white face. She is kept in those 

 districts where the mountain pastures are devoted especially to 

 the production of milk. The entrance to the rich valley of 

 the Simmen is between the Stockhorn and the Niessen, rising 

 up from the beautiful Lake Thun. It is richly cultivated, 

 abounding in fields and orchards, gardens and meadows, rising 

 to the very tops of the hills. Fir forests, rocky gorges, and 

 fertile, sunny nooks abound through the valley, and give it a 

 genuine pastoral character. 



Here we often find a little lighter and better proportioned 

 bony structure in the cattle, with more delicate heads, finer 

 horns and skin, and excellent milking qualities. These cattle 

 are remarkable for the rapid and early maturity of the young. 

 Many of them are yellowish brown, others have white spots. 

 They fat*;en easily on good feed and proper care. The cows 

 weigh on m. average from 1,300 to 1,350 lbs. Some of them go 

 up to 1,60c lbs., while the bulls often reach 2,200 lbs. live 

 weight, and have been known, at six , or seven years, to reach 

 2,700. The w\iole population of Simmenthal and Saanen are 

 cattle owners and dairymen. They make the fine cheese, now 

 exported to all pans of the world as Gruydre cheese. 



Another Swiss bi^ed, known as the black-brown or gray- 

 brown, is found more widely spread in Switzerland. They are 

 seen in immense numbers in the cantons of Schwytz, Lucerne, 

 Ziirich, Appenzell, Uri, Unterwalden, and, the Grisons, embrac- 

 ing nearly all of Eastern Switzerland. The color is a kind of 

 iron gray or dark brown, passing over in some instances to bright 

 gray and light brown, and having a light stripe along the' back, 

 bright colors on the under part of the body and on tlie inside of 

 the thighs, and a bright circle aromd the muzzle. The hair in 

 the ears is also light. This is ont of tlie most beautiful and 

 widely spread of the Swiss breeds. 



After the exhibition was ended I visited the above-named 

 cantons, partly for the sake of studying the peculiarities of 



