310 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



grasses are about 25 per cent, herbs, and in conseqence of which the 

 hay will always bring one-fourth more in the markets than if grown in 

 the lowlands. 



To continue with the stable treatment, it is correct to state that the 

 cattle are thoroughly curried and rubbed once and often twice a day, 

 the trouble and time being fully repaid by the loosening of the hide on 

 the calves and those intended for fattening, as they grow much faster 

 and accumulate flesh more readily. In well-kept stables great care is 

 taken that the stalls are kept dry and clean, the custom being to rebed 

 the cows each day, with an armful of either fresh straw or hay litter, 

 which also adds largely to the stable-dung supply. The stables are 

 usually cleaned twice a day. The manure is either packed up in small 

 ricks some distance from the barn or shoveled into sinks, made espe- 

 cially for the purpose, just outside the stalls, and is either put through 

 a distilled course or doctored with water into a liquid state and drawn 

 off through pipes, or dipped with a long-bandied bucket into a very long 

 tank on wheels (somewhat resembling a street-sprinkler) and driven to 

 the fields with either cows or oxen and thoroughly distributed over the 

 ground, the cost and labor of which is more than doubly repaid by the 

 soil producing two or three times the quantity, and a much better qual- 

 ity, of hay than the ordinary dry-manuring or old turf-sod. 



CATTLE GRAZING ON THE ALPS. 



On the low Alps. With the spring begins different treatment; the 

 cows and fine breeding animals generally receive half dry and half 

 green food. As soon as the grass has grown a little, may be in April 

 or at the beginning of May, cattle are grazed on the lower meadows, 

 usually tethered or herded by old men, small boys, or girls. This 

 grazing period only lasts ten days or a fortnight, as the grass must not 

 receive too great a check, as the result would be a small hay crop on 

 which the herd must depend for its winter food. From this low meadow 

 grass a move is made on to the first mountain step, which is called the 

 " Maisass," or May seats. Sometimes we have the "Aprilsiiss," but 

 not often. 



On the Mgli Alps. The " Maisass n runs from the middle or end of May 

 until the middle or latter part of June, when another move takes place, 

 as it will not do to imperil the hay crop which is also expected from 

 these lands. By the end of June the cattle are up to the high Alps, 

 " Hochalpe," where they remain until October. 



In this part of Switzerland the 'Alps consist of three stations or 

 table-lands, the highest of which can only be grazed about three weeks 

 in the middle of summer. At this station open sheds are sometimes 

 put up to protect the cattle from sudden snow-storms or cold rains, 

 which often occur. On the second station a more substantial structure 

 is built and is not only used as stables but as a milk and dairy station. 

 The alp is usually owned by a commune, and young cattle and milch 

 cows are taken on pasturage at so much for the season (about $6 or $7), 

 in which case the cows or heifers are sent directly to the " Hochalpe " 

 jn May or June, where they remain until the end of October, when the 

 grass begins to get short and the weather cold, and they are brought 

 directly to the valleys. 



It has been thought proper to minutely describe this system of graz- 

 ing in order to explain the large flow and the excellent quality of milk 

 obtained in the Alps. The results are, cows fed on dry hay in winter, 

 calves timed to come, if possible, in February or March ; green feed 



