Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-03-25
NO. 76.
st(istcllanrous.
PERILS or AGRICULTURE IN TYROL.


The persistence with which humanity
attaches itself to fertile land without re-
gard to danger is illustrated elsewhere
than here. The peasant, on the slopes of
NcsuviouS push their cultivation and plant
their homes in the very track of lava
stream, and, all the world over, facility
for obtaining livelihood blinds the culti-
Nator To all risks. Grammar says: ''In
the Wid-Nchouan. North Tyrol. not few
of the houses are built on such steep slopes
that heavy chain has to hc laid round
the houses and fastened to some firm OBJ
iect-a large tree or bowldpr of rock high
er up. In one village of the Puster Thai.
and in two others oil the Obernn Thai,
many of the Villagers come to church
with crampoonS on their feet, the terrible
steep slopes on which their huts are built,
somewhat like swallow, nest on a wall
requiring this precautionary measure. In
MooS-a village not very far from the
Brenncr, having population OF eight
hundred nhabitant,-mOre than three
hundred men and women have been killed
since los 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, can be trust
ed to craze on them. and the hay for the
larger cattle has To be cut and gathered
by the hand of man.
The lawmakers gather their little crops
here and there on the steep grass patches.
almost at the limit of vegetation, pack it
in nets or in sheets, and bring it on their
shoulders down the steep and dangerous
paths.
My earlier idea of an ''alp'' was that of Il
level plateau At the top Of the lower noun
tain,. Alps which are even nearly level are
Very rare. especially among the higher
elevations. Generally they are so steep,
50 broken. and 50 inaccessible that one
wonders how cattle are rot to them. and
how they can be trusted to craze over them.
These al lps are bounded bv no fences, and
it must be an anxious task for those who
have the herds in charge to get them safe
~ together At milking time. Each animal
wears it, hcil-not the hollow sounding
dull c0w-bcll with which we are familiar,
but musical in tone, and heard tor a great
er distance. The alpine hut and the Sem
nerln. or dairy-mald, who spends the whole
summer in nearly solitary attention to her
arduous duties, are not altogether what
ones imagination might depict. She is
not the dairy maid of poetry, nor is her
temporary home filled with the more ethe-
real pastoral associations. Yet these peo-
pie, too, have a romantic and imaginative
side to their lives, and are happy and
wholesome and content.
The agriculture of North Tyrol, outside
of the valley of the Inn, is mostly confined
to very small operations. \ few cattle,
few sheep, IA little poultry, IA few small
fields, and a mountain pasture constitutes
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 provis-
ion for their own old age. Labor-s saving
hardly exists. Everything is accomplished
by unmtigated and unremittcdI toll. In
youth and in early life the people are stall
wart, active, and hearty; but old age
comes very early. and at forty the yigor
of manhood and womanhood is passed
the activity and vigor, but not the endur-
ance; up to really old age even
slight little women carry enormous
loads in the baskets at their backs up and
down steep rough hill->ides and mountains
paths, where IN unaccustomed tourist
must puff and toll to move his own unin-
numbered person. Gco. f. H'oring Jr., ii
Harpfr> .M'ga.j1' .tor .1prH
Coon FOR WART>.-The popular cures
for warts and other like eXcrescences, are
very numerous, and vary in almost every
country. One mode of charming them
away is to take IN elder shoot and rub it
on the part then cut rs many notches on
the tWg aS YOU have warts, bury il in
place where where it will soon decay. and
~ il rotS away. the warts will disppear
This i a southern charm. In Yorkshire,
and throughout the north generally the cure
for warts j. To take black snail and rub
the "XcreSccnce> with it, then impale il on
Il thorn and leave il to perish. As it dries
up aud disappears. the warts will vanish.
f According to another form OF the charm
the warts must be rubbed with a fresh
snail for nine successive nights. Still an
other Wart charm j. to take the she'll OF IL
broad bean. and rub the affected part with
the inside thereof; bury the she'll and tell
no one about it, and as it withers away. So
will the wartS S.-.WHc Ie0r Round.
WHEN \ WOMAN WILL SHE Will
The Rome ~ Y. Sentinel has curious
story about "A married couple in Springfield.
1t says: when Massachusetts woman
her husband to try To break her of it.
Well knowing hi, wife'S disposition to
make him Il present regularly at the ami
ver>ary of hi, birthday. citizen of the
Bay State, who likewise iorcibly realized
the fact that economy was an absolute ne
cessity in his household, said to his wife ::
This year you must not attempt to make
me present. insist. 1t would be absurd
to do so ut this time. when we need every
thing we can rake and scrape. give YOU
fair notice that if you do carry out your
former custom this year, will burn up
the present as surely as you make it, so
the wife bethought herself She could
not bear the idea of being deprived of her
annual pleasure. Therefore she gathered
together her dimes and bought for her
dearly beloved, II ton of coal.