1846. 
fHE CULTIVATOR. 
77 
Fellenberg Institution, Hofwyl.—(Fig.22.) 
ia this reverence for antiquity. There are other places 
and communities, where modes are, necessarily, the 
best, because hallowed with the confidence of centuries. 
Enthusiasm, except in whale-fishery and war, is a dan¬ 
gerous element in the human constitution—especially 
so in science and religion. It was evidently added by 
mistake. 
Continuing our way, we entered the cow-stables. 
Here were about eighty—as fine a collection taken 
together, as I have seen on the continent—all pied, all 
in milk—standing upon a floor of cobble-stone, over¬ 
spread with straw. One among them of great excellence, 
was worth, M. F. said, about ninety dollars. She 
seemed capable of giving a large supply of milk—was 
rather an Ayrshire in proportion, though nearly as large 
as a Hereford. The manure is easily gathered by fold¬ 
ing the litter and excrements within the straw bed of 
each day and depositing this upon the pile without, 
(fig, 21.) Here it remains till thoroughly rotted. Tho’ 
(Fig. 21.) 
by being kept continually wet, it is not permitted to 
ferment. Most of the cows suffer from the unnatural 
growth of the hoof. M. F. attributes it to the action of 
saltpetre formed in the soil below. Need it be any thing 
more than the legitimate result of this unnatural quiet of !; 
the limbs? The growth of the beard when neglected, or 
of the finger-nails of the Fakeers of Hindostan, (till the 
latter as little resemble the usual product of healthy 
secretion, as they do the talons of birds of prey,) are 
.but parallel instances, in which the constant deposit of 
horny matter is not kept down by the accustomed re¬ 
moval or abrasion at the outer extreme. These crea¬ 
tures are worked when their labor is required, two or 
three hours in the day. M. F. says it enables them to 
give more milk, because they eat more. They must 
be exercised, says he, in order to their general health. 
Better that the service be profitable, is ever the pea¬ 
sant’s plainest deduction. 
Passing from the stalls, by the wagon and smith shops, 
we came upon the system of draining the father of M. F. 
had instituted. He has enveloped the mound upon 
which the farm lies, in a spiral drain, discharging its 
water two-thirds of the distance to its base, in a swim¬ 
ming pond. From this pond it issues again to water a 
meadow, lying upon descending ground. It is impossi¬ 
ble to give in a diagram the just properties of the 
ground-plot of Hofwyl. Still the several points may 
be noted. (Fig. 22.) A, higher school, about 130 by 
50 feet. B, the lower farm-school for poor children. 
C, gymnasium for sports, when the weather is unplea¬ 
sant. D, a lodging and boarding-house, for the recep¬ 
tion of patrons and others visitipg the school. E, 
chapel. F, wagon and smith-shops. G and H, barns. I, 
swimming-pond, floored and Availed with cut stone, 
j, k, 1, m, commodes, about the farm. O, one of the 
small lakes, supplied with row-boats for the pupils and 
teachers. 
At eleven, we returned to the gymnasium, to Avitness 
the sports of the pupils, under the direction of their 
master, the Professor of Mathematics. Their exercU 
ses were running, leaping, climbing, and swinging in a 
great variety of modes, on parallel bars. Each little 
group under a director who stood ready to give aid in 
a dangerous feat. The elder boys chose their leader, as 
they elect leaders in all sports, and he set them exam¬ 
ples which they tried to follow. There was one Swiss 
among the number, a fine representative of the peasants 
who to this day, among the mountains, have their 
publie festivals at which prizes are won in heaving the 
stone and pitching the bar. His strength and agility 
were the admiration of all. Here I remained in con¬ 
versation with M. F. and the Math. Prof, an hour, 
Avhen, at a bell-stroke, all the fixtures were abandoned, 
the pupils leaving to prepare for dinner. These gym¬ 
nastic exercises are the escape-pipe, through which the 
surplus animal spirits make their exit, instead of fester¬ 
ing in the organism, and imparting their conagiont 
to = the mind, and ultimately finding an expression in 
the rod, or a dismissal. 
