THE ALPEN, OR PASTURES 23 



alp J is used by the Swiss in a very definite sense, and 

 the alpen, or pastures, are not only of great economic 

 importance to this essentially pastoral people, but are 

 actually owned by them in common. The alpen high 

 above the valley (Plate III.) are the mountain pastures, 

 which provide food for the cows during the height 

 of summer. The word forms part of the names of 

 such well-known Swiss resorts as the Bel Alp, the 

 Riffelalp, both of which were originally, and are still 

 largely, places to which the cattle migrate in search of 

 grazing-ground in summer-time. 



In Switzerland the commune is a highly developed 

 and ancient institution, and each commune usually 

 owns one or more alps, in the sense that its burghers 

 have the freeborn right of pasturing their cows on 

 certain alpen. Whereas in the villages the meadows 

 are for the most part private property, the pastures, or 

 alpen, are held in common by the inhabitants. In the 

 spring and summer, the hay growing in the meadows 

 is far too valuable to become the immediate fodder 

 for the cattle, for it has to be carefully cultivated 

 and stored up to feed them during the long winter 

 months. Thus in summer-time the cattle belonging 

 to the commune are sent to the pastures high up in 

 the hills, and these are only occasionally cut with the 

 scythe, and then late in autumn. As the summer 

 passes, the cattle climb higher and higher from alp to 

 alp in search of a fresh food-supply. The milk is 

 also made into cheese in the far-away chalets perched 

 1 The term "The Alps," is also derived from this word. 



