NOTES ON THE liURAL ECONOMY OF SWITZERLAND. 



BY THE HON, N. BURCHARD, 

 [Late Consul near the Swiss Confederation.] 



Switzerland, placed in Central Europe, presents a surface 

 broken by the loftiest mountains, and plowed by long and fertile 

 valleys, through which flow rivers that take their rise in the vast 

 glaciers u hich lie embosomed in the Alpine regions. These snow- 

 clad elevations have a controling influence on the climate of the 

 country. Their proximity produces frequent and heavy rains, 

 and exposes the whole confederation to biting frosts in spring and 

 autumn, though where the lakes lie, near the Jura and the 

 Alps, the vine yields the most luscious grape. These bodies of 

 water soften the rigors of winter and the heat of summer. In 

 spite of all the disadvantages of a rugged nature, and raw climate, 

 the country teems with industry, and is peopled with a hardy 

 race of men. Every spot that can be put under the plow and be 

 laid down to grass, enters into some branch of rural economy. 

 Even here are vast plains over which herds and .flocks stray, 

 that have never been broken by man since their creation;. and 

 where the venturesome hunter never trod, the sure-footed goat 

 crops his richest and sweetest food. 



This little republic is the land where pastoral life is displayed 

 in all its phases. Though all the cereals growing in similar lati- 

 tudes may be found strewed over the confederacy, in many dis- 

 tricts the plow and flail are not to be seen. How could it be 

 otherwise 7 There are here chains of mountains that bristle up 

 beyond the line of eternal snows, and the surface of the glaciers, 

 which is doable of all the space occupied by the Swiss lakes, 



[Assembly No. 144. 1 C 



