The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1879-04-24
Perils Of Agriculture in Tyrol.

Perils Of Agriculture in Tyrol.
The persistence with which humanity
attaches itself to fertile land without re-
gard to danger il illustrated elsewhere
than here. The peasants on the slopes
of Vesuvius push their cultivation and
plant their homes in the very track Of q
possible lava stream, and, all the world
over, facility for obtaining livelihood
blinds the cultivator TO all risks. Groh-
man says: "In the -Schonau,
North Tyrol, not a few OF the houses
are built on such steep slopes that
heavy chain has to be laid reund the
houses and fastened to some firm object
"a large tree or bowlder of rock higher
up. In one village off the Poster Thai,
and in two others off the Oberinn Thai,
many of the villagers come To church
with crampoons on their feet, the terri
BILE steep slopes on which their hQts are
built, somewhat like q swallows rest on
q wall, requiring this precautionary
measure. In Moos-a villagesuot very
far from the Brenner, having popula-
ton of 800 inhabitants more than 500
men and women have been killed since
1853 by falls from the incredibly steep
slopes upon which the pasturages Of this
village are situated. So steep are they,
in fact, that only goats, and even they
not everywhere, can be trusted to gaze
on them, and the hay for the larger. cat
tie has to be cut and gathered by the
hand of man." 'a. "a ''.''
I have myself seen, in walking among
the hills, little stores Of grass piled
against the upper side of protecting
trees, where it had been broughti in arml
fuls when cut by the spike -shod mower.
The hay-makers gather their little crops
here and there on the steep grass
patches, almost at the limit of vegeta-
ton, pack it in nets or in sheets, and
bring it on their shoul0efs down the
steep and dangerous paths Ny earlier
idea of an "alp'' was that of' 4 level
plateau at the top of the lower .nnounsl
tains. Alps which. Me evenly level are
very rare, especially among thst higher
elevations. Generally they are sosteep,
so broken, and so inaccessible that one
wonders how cattle are got to them, and
how they can be trusted to Craze over
them. These alps are bounded by no
fences, and it must be an anxious task
for those who have the herds in charge
to get them safely together at milking
time. Each animal wears its 'bell-not
the hollow-sounding dull cow-ben with
tone, and heard for much greater DIS
tance. The alpine hut and the Sem
nerin, or dairy-maid, who spends the
whole summer in nearly solitary atten-
ton to her arduous duties, are mot alto
gether what ones Imagination might
depict. She is not the dairy-maid OF
poetry, nor is her temporary homo filed
with the more ethereal pastoral associa-
tions. Yet these people, too have q
romantic and imaginative side TO their
lives, and are happy and wholesome and
| content. r
The agriculture Of North Tyrol, out
side of the valley Of the Inn, is mostly
confined to very small operations, A
few cattle, few sheep, little poultry,
3 few small fields, and . mountain pas
ture constitute the stock in trade on
which the industrious and frugal pair
bring up their family in comfort and
decency, accumulate portions for their
daughters, and lay aside provision for
their own old age. Labor-saying hard
ly exists. Every thing is accomplished
BY unmitigated and unremitted toll. In
youth and in early life the people are
stalwart, active, and hearty; but old
age comes very early, and at forty the
vigor Of manhood and womanhood is
passetl-the activity and vigor, but not
the endurance: up to really old age
even slight little women carry enormous
loads in the baskets at their backs up
and down steep, rough hill-sides and
mountain-paths, where an unaccustom-
ed tourist must puff and toll to move his
own unencumbered person. George f.
Waring, Jun, in Harper's for April.