West-Jersey pioneer., 1866-09-29
From the New York Observer.
AGRICULTURE IN SWITZERLAND.
SWITZERLAND, August 20. 1866.

IL you nave Deen IN the habit OF think
ing 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 arabic land in the
| valleys, as the mountains are many of
them covered with snow all the year
round, and the climate very cool in sum
mer, and severely cold in winter, it is of
course country not favorable to agrieul-
ture. IF the farmers are successful under
such circumstances, they are entitled to
great credit.
They are not rich farmers, but they
are we'll to do in the world, and in the
parts of Switzerland where there is any
considerable amount of land to be cult
vated, the people are all as well off as in
any part Of the world where the popula-
tion depend mainly on the soil
In the North Eastern part of the
country, where 1 have spent ten or
twelve days among the people, there are
no signs of poverty. | walked out every
day through the village, and into the
country, and have never seen beggar,
nor any one who appeared to be in want
| 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. WH ~
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
a 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 a solid state,
there to be decomposed. 1t is put into a
large box made watertight, and is dis
solved in water 1t is then carried out
into the fields in hogshead on cart,
and hauled out with pail on the end of
pole. One of the fields is near by, it is
taken out on wheelbarrow which has a
box for this very purpose attached to it,
and then thrown from dipper upon the
grass. The manure thus dissolved acts
rapidly, and they get two and three and
sometimes four cuttings of hay in a
season off the same field. This is the
perfection of agriculture, for the weather
is so cool, and the season is so short, they
would scarcely get crop, without the
manure, where now they get two or three.
The. greatest mistake that American
farmers make, is in cultivating too much
land. If they would be content with a
small farm, and make the most of it, they
would make more money out of a less
quantity of land we'll worked, than out of
a great deal but half farmed. Manure is
the gold of the Eastern farmer. The
Western prairies do not need it yet, and
will not these many years. But the hills
and 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
owners.
If 50 little land is here made to pro-
duce so much, with all the disadvantages
of cool and short summer, how much
more and better would be the results with
the superior soil and climate of the United
States. Manure does the business for
Switzerland, and it would do more for
America. lRENEUs.
w $4,000 have lately been presented |
to Capt. Many, of Confederate fame, in |
London. He lived off of the United |
States by bumbugging them before the |
-ebelliOn. He went with the South at that |