GERMANY, THROUGH SWITZERLAND, TO ITALY. 85 



couple of montlis. Then it is crushed with a simple wooden ma- 

 chine, and thus divested of the woody substance, leaving only 

 the hemp. Some good wine is raised here ; but as no particular 

 care is taken in its manufiicture, it has attained no celebrity. 



Upon approaching Basle I noticed the old-fashioned way of 

 manuring the ground by burning it. The mode is simple, and 

 not costly where wood is cheap. The land is first plowed deeply 

 in furrows about twenty feet apart ; a small pile of wood is made 

 of limbs, roots, etc., which is then covered with dust, and lighted 

 like charcoal, and is kept burning slowly, now and then air-holes 

 being made to prevent the fires going out. The people here are 

 so expert that they do not lose the wood, but make it into char- 

 coal ; so they not only manure their land well, but also have the 

 additional gain of a quantity of charcoal. At six o'clock P.M. 

 we arrived in Basle — a picturesque old town, situated upon the 

 banks of the Ehine. 



September 2. — At nine o'clock we started with the cars for Gre- 

 neva. The railroad runs in a narrow valley about one mile wide. 

 The hill-sides are cultivated as grain farms, and there is only now 

 and then a vineyard. In the valleys are meadows, irrigated by 

 flood-gates as above described. The farm-houses are large, and 

 built of stone; many of them are situated almost at the top of the 

 mountain. Prunes, apples, walnuts, wheat, barley, oats, and rye 

 are raised; also potatoes, beans, hemp, and some Indian corn. 

 The mountain sides are well cultivated, and often large stone 

 houses can be seen on the summit of the mountains. At Beel we 

 changed cars, and seemingly country too, for from here the vine 

 seemed to be the exclusive cultivation. Every foot of ground, 

 even three fourths up the mountains, is planted with vines, which 

 are looking well, and have a good crop. The soil is yellow clay, 

 much intermixed with rocks and gravel. In many j^laces rock 

 walls are built up to hold the soil. Where the vines are grow- 

 ing, much labor is bestowed upon redeeming land enough to hold 

 fifty to one hundred vines, planted three and a half feet apart, 

 and the rows two and a half feet. In California such a piece of 

 ground would hold only seven or nine vines (as we plant them), 

 and would cost about $400 to make it. 



"We soon came to the end of the lake, where lies Neufchatel. 

 This lake, with its mirror-like smoothness, its limpid waters, and 

 surrounding scenery, can not fail to draw the admiration of the 

 traveler. Still, however grand its beauty may be, it can not 



