60 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



I. 



for fuel, as in all countries ; and when a mode of conveyance and a market can be found 

 the timber is sold, but in many places neither is the case. A singular construction was 

 erected for the purpose of bringing down to the Take of Lucerne the fine pine trees 

 which grow upon Mount Pilatus, by the engineer Rupp. The wood was purchased by 

 a company tor 30002., and 9000t were expended in constructing the slide. The length 

 of the slide is about 44,000 English feet, or about eight miles and two furlongs; and 

 the difference of level of its two extremities is about 2600 feet It is a wooden trough, 

 about five feet broad and four deep, the bottom of which consists of three trees, the middle 

 one being a little hollowed ; and small rills of water are conducted into it, for the pur- 

 pose of 'diminishing the friction. The declivity, at its commencement, is about 22^°. 

 The large pines, with their branches and boughs cut off', are placed in the slide, and 

 descending by their own gravity, they acquire such an impetus by their descent through 

 the fust part of the slide, that they perform their journey of eight miles and a quarter in 

 the short space of six minutes ; and, under favourable circumstances, that is, in wet 

 weather, in three minutes. Only one tree descends at a time, but, by means of signals 

 placed along the slide, another tree is launched as soon as its predecessor has plunged 

 into the lake. Sometimes the moving trees spring or bolt out of the trough, and when 

 this happens, they have been known to cut through trees in the neighbourhood, as if it 

 had been done by an axe. When the trees reach the lake, they are formed into rafts, and 

 floated down the Reuss into the Rhine. 



84 1 . Timber is also floated down mountain torrents from a great height. The trees are 

 cut down during summer and laid in the then dry bed of the stream : with the first heavy 

 rains in autumn they are set in motion, and go thundering down among the rocks to the 

 valleys, where what "arrives sound is laid aside for construction, and the rest is used as fuel. 



312. The chamois goats abound in some of the 

 forests, and are hunted for their fat and flesh, and 

 for their skins, which are valuable as glove and 

 breeches leather. They herd in flocks, led by a 

 female ; live on lichens, and on the young shoots 

 and bark of pines ; are remarkably fond of salt ; and 

 require great caution in hunting. (Simond's Swit- 

 zerland, vol. i. p. 245.) The common goat is fre- 

 quently domesticated for the sake of its milk, and 

 may be seen near cottages, curiously harnessed 

 (Jig. 42.) to prevent its breaking through, or 

 jumping over, fences. 



343. The care of pastures and mowing grounds ^§-2Z^5^i>"iii'^ 

 fonns an important part of the agricultural economy ^-St-^j — a 



of Switzerland. In places inaccessible to cattle, the peasant sometimes makes hay with 

 cramps on his feet. Grass, not three inches high, is cut in some places three times a 

 year ; and, in the valleys, the fields are seen shaven as close as a bowling-green, and all 

 inequalities cropped as with a pair of scissors. In Switzerland, as in Norway, and for 

 the same reasons, the arts of mowing and hay-making seem to be carried to the 

 highest degree of perfection. Harvesting corn is not less perfect ; and the art of pro- 

 curing fodder for cattle, from the trees, shrubs, and wild plants, and applying this fodder 

 with economy, is pushed as far as it will go. In some parrs, very minute attention is 

 paid to forming and collecting manure, especially that liquid manure, which, in the 

 German cantons, is known under the name of jauche or mist-wasser, and in the Canton 

 de Vaud, of sissier. (For. Quart. Rev. and Cunt. Mis., Jan. 1828.) 



S44 Coius,poats, and sheep constitute the wealth of the Swiss farmers, and their principal means of sup- 

 port ; or, to discriminate more accurately, the goats, in a great measure, support the poorer class : and the 

 cows supply the cheese from which the richer derive their little wealth. The extent of a pasture is esti- 

 mated by the number of cows it maintains : six or eight goats are deemed equal to a cow, as are four calves, 

 four sheep, or four hogs ; but a horse is reckoned equal to five or six cows, because he roots up the grass. 

 Throughout the high Alps, they are of opinion that sheep are destructive to the pastures, in proportion to 

 their elevation, because the herbage, which they eat down to the roots, cannot, in such a cold climate, 

 regain its strength and luxuriance. The mountain pastures are rented at so much per cow's feed, from 

 the 15th of May to the ISth of October ; and the cows are hired from the peasants for the same period : at 

 the end of it, both are restored to their owners. In other parts, the proprietors of the pastures hire the 

 cows, or the proprietors of the cows rent the land. The proceeds of a cow are estimated at 31. or 31. 10s., 

 viz. M')S. in summer ; and, during the time they are kept in the valleys or in the house, at 11. The Grin- 

 delwald Alps feed three thousand cows, and as many sheep and goats. The cattle are attended on the 

 mountains by herdsmen ; when the weather is tempestuous they are up all night calling to them, other 

 wise they would take fright and run into danger. Chalets are built for the use of the herdsmen : these 

 are log-houses of the rudest construction, without a chimney, having a pit or trench dug for the fire, the 

 earth thrown up forming a mound around it, by way of a seat. To those chalets, the persons whose 

 employment it is to milk the cows, and to make cheese and butter, ascend in the summer time. When 

 they go out to milk the cows, a portable scat, with a single leg, is strapped to their backs ; at the hour of 

 milking, the cows are attracted home from the most distant pastures by a handful of salt, which tne shep- 

 herd takes from a leathern pouch hanging over his shoulder. During the milking, the Rang ties f'aches 

 is frequently sung. [For. Quart. Rev. ami <'»«/. Misc.) 



345. The Siviss cows yield more milk than those of Lombard?, where they are in great demand ; but 

 after the third generation their milk falls ott! In so-\ie narts of Switzerland they yield, on an average, 



