Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1866-10-04
farmers department.
Iosuespondsncs of the n Y Observer
Agriculture In Switzerland.
SWITZERLAND, Aug. 20, '66.

SWITZERLAND, aug. 20, OO.
Ifvou have been in the habit of
thinking there is little or no farming
going on in Switzerland, you have
been in error. For as it is land of
hills and mountains, and very little
of srable land in the valleys, as the
mountains are many of them covered
with snow all the year round, and
the climate very cool in summer, and
severely cold in winter, It is OF course
a country not favorable to agricul-
ture. Ii the farmers are successful
under such circumstances, they are
entitled to great credit.
They are not rich farmers, but
thev are well to do in the world. and
in the parts Of Switzerland where
there is any considerable amount of
land to be cultivated, the people are
all as well off as in any part OF. the
world where the population depend
mainly on the soil.
In the North Eastern part OF the
country, where / have spent ten or
twelve days, among the people, there
are no signs of poverty. 1 walked
out every day through the village,
and into the country, and have never
seen beggar, nor any one who ap-
peared to be in want. l can look
from the hill on which the village is
built, over ten or twelve miles OF
farms in every direction, and more
beautiful landscape it would be hard
to find.
But the spring is so late in coming,
that the warm weather is short
They must, therefore, make the most
of it, and bring forward the crops as
rapidly as possible. To do this, they
make use of manure in way and to
an extent that would astonish our
farmers in America. Their great
crop here is grass. Scarcely field
of grain is to be seen. They must
have hay to sustain their COWS in the
long winter, for butter and cheese
are the chief articles they provide
for export. They tell me that a
mans wealth is measured by the size
of his heap of manure. In other
words, the more manure he can raise,
the more grass. They feed their
COWS, too, with an eye to the manure
they will make. They gather up
every bit that falls, and the boys
have wheelbarrows made on purpose
to traverse the roads with, and get
all they can on the highway. Nor is
this put on the ground in solid
state, there to be decemposed. 1t is
put into alarge box made wstertight,
and is dissolved in water. tits then
carried out into the fields in hogs
head on cart, and hauled out with
a pail on the end Of pole. One of
the fields is near by, it is taken out
on q wheelbarroW which has box
for this very purpose attached to it,
and then thrown from a dIpper upon
the grass. The manure thus dis:
solved acts rapidly, and they get two
and three and sometimes four cut
tings of hav in a season off the same
field. This is the perfection of agri
culture, for the weather is SO cool,
and the season is sc short, they
would scarcely get crop, without
the manure, where now they get two
or three
The greatest mistake that Ameri-
can farmers make, Is in cultivating
to much land. Ifthey would be con-
tent with small farm, and make the
most of it, they would make more
money out of less quantity of land
well worked, than out of a great deal
out half farmed. Manure is the gold
of the Eastern farmer. The Wes-
tern prairies do not need it yet, and
will not these many years. But the
hills and the valleys Of Pennsylvania
and New York and New England,
and the waste lands of Virginia that
are to be restored, need to feel Swiss
industry and Swiss manure, and they
would come on with a newness of
life, that would astonish their own
ers.
If so little land is here made to
produce so much, with all the dis
advantages of cool and short sum-
mer, how much more and better
would be the results with the supe-
rior soil and climate of the United
States. Manure does the business
for Switzerland, and 1t would do
more for America.
Tprn rI-o