No. 144.] S3 



and most diversified pastures in existence, and there is no good 

 reason why it should not grow wool enough for home consump- 

 tion, and why their natural shrewdness and providence do not 

 lead them to produce fine-wooled sheep instead of the long- 

 limbed, flat-sided, and big-bellied coarse and long-wooled one. I 

 need not be asked about the quality of the mutton. It is suffi- 

 cient to say, that it is tough and unsavory. The lambs are barely 

 tolerable for the table. A delicate and luscious saddle of mutton 

 is almost unknown in the land. The country is thought to have 

 600,000 head of sheep, and sends annually into France and Italy 

 10,000. In some parts of the country, the milk of the ewe is 

 converted into cheese. Many flocks of cattle and sheep are sent 

 from Lombardy into the pastoral cantons to depasture during the 

 fine season, and pasture grounds are rented to these foreign pro- 

 prietors at a very reasonable rate. 



I can say as little for the hogs of the country as I have said of 

 the sheep. There are two breeds, the large and small. Both are 

 types of the most inferior races. In the canton of Tessin, they 

 range the mountains and feed on nuts. On the plains they are 

 mostly kept in styes. Their mode of treatment and manner of 

 fattening present nothing remarkable, but everything belonging 

 to the porcine race is about on a footing with the long-wooled 

 and slab-sided animal that gives no great attraction to our yards. 



The truth is tliat the Swiss have not made great progress in 

 agriculture since the close of the last century. Rural economy 

 is a means of subsistence, and capital does not seek this channel 

 of industry for profit. Land is truly dear, and seldom offered in 

 market. The country is also subject to long rains, and often the 

 hay and grain rot in the field before they can be cured. Then 

 tremendous freshets inundate the land, mountains frequently 

 slide down from above and ruin villages and destroy whole fields 

 in a moment, and glaciers now and then break asunder or push 

 down the valleys, and cause by accumulation of water being sud- 

 denly let loose, immense damage. In fact, the Swi.^s is eternally 

 at war with the elements. Much valuable land might be re- 

 claimed from forests, lakes, and morass. And we think much 



