THE CENTRAL PLATEAU is the best cultivated and most densely populated part of Switzerland. Cereals are grown, but not in sufficient quantities to meet the home demand, and potatoes supply a considerable part of the food of the people, while the vine flourishes best round Lakes Geneva and Neuchatel. The area under crops is decreasing before that under grass, partly because of the increased demand for milk for the manufacture of cheese and chocolate and for export in a condensed form.
Several causes have contributed to the growth of industrial life in Switzerland. Its origin is probably to be found in the various manufactures carried on by the people in their own homes during their spare time in the winter months. The decline of these domestic pursuits before the growth of the factory system in other countries, and the increase in the population of Switzerland itself, rendered necessary an outlet for those whom the soil was unable to support, and for whom no colonies of their own were available. Over-population has probably ceased to be operative, as Italian labour is now employed in some of the cotton mills. The growth of industry was further fostered by the abundant supplies of water-power, of which full use has not even yet been made. The manufacture of cotton goods holds the first place in importance, the cantons principally engaged therein being Zurich, St. Gallen, Aargau, and Glarus (the last of which, indeed, belongs to the Alpine zone). Water-power is used to work most of the mills, either directly by driving turbines, or indirectly by generating electricity. Spinning is chiefly concentrated in Winterthur and the surrounding villages. Wald is noted for its muslins and the fine calico required for embroidery. Glarus manufactures bleaching and printing cloth, and is also engaged in calico printing. In St. Gallen, Appenzell, and elsewhere, embroidery is carried on both in factories and in sheds attached to the homes of the people engaged therein. Switzer land ranks next to the United States, France, and Germany in the manufacture of woven silk goods. This industry, which has settled in the cantons of Zurich and Basel, was formerly a domestic one, but has now been taken over by power-looms, the number of which has greatly increased during the last thirty years. Of other manufactures the construction of various kinds of machinery is the most important. Riiti and Horgen, both in the canton of Zurich, produce textile machines ; agricultural implements are made at Frauenfeld ; Geneva has a large output of dynamos ; Zurich is engaged in various kinds of mechanical work. Other industries of the Central Plateau include brewing, chocolate-making, the preparation of condensed milk, and the manufacture of chemicals.
THE JURA.—On the limestone region of the Jura the soil is poor and the climate severe. Only a small area is fit for cultivation, and pastoral farming is the main support of the agricultural popula tion. The development of watch-making, introduced in the eighteenth century, and for long carried on as a purely domestic pursuit, has proved the salvation of the region. Within recent years the industry has been partially concentrated in large factories, situated principally at Lode and Chaux-de-Fondes. In 1911 Switzerland exported over 11,000,000 watches, most of which were made in the Jura.
COMMUNICATIONS.—The development of navigation on the Rhine, between Strassburg and Basel, has, within the last few years, enabled Switzerland to import considerable quantities of raw material such as iron, coal, and phosphates, by water, and to export some of her manufactured goods in the same way. It is hoped eventually to continue the navigable waterway as far as Lake Constance. Swiss railways are important largely because of their trans Alpine connections. A line from Geneva by Lausanne follows the shore of Lake Geneva and the valley of the Rhone to Brig, whence it passes by the Simplon tunnel into the valley of the Rio Toce, and thus unites the railway systems of France and Italy. The railways of Western Germany meet at Basel, and from that town a line goes through Lucerne, and, by the valley of the Reuss and the St. Gothard tunnel, into the valley of the Ticino. With this latter way to Italy the Simplon route has now entered into competition, since the construction of the Lfitschberg tunnel through the Bernese Oberland has opened up direct railway communication between Bern, which is connected with Basel, and Brig. With the East, communication is maintained by lines which go from Basel by the valley of the Rhine, and from Zurich by the shores of Lakes Zurich and Walenstadt and the valley of the Rhine, to Feldkirch, in the Vorarlberg, whence there is a route to Innsbruck by the Arlberg tunnel.
COMMERCE.—The imports of Switzerland include food-stuffs, raw materials, and manufactured goods, while the exports consist principally of manufactured goods. The following figures indicate the nature of the special trade for the years 1906-10 :— Raw silk, cotton and wool, coal, and metals make up the bulk of the raw materials imported ; food-stuffs include wheat and other cereals, live animals, wine, sugar, fruit, and vegetables ; manufac tures consist largely of cotton and woollen goods, iron and steel, and machinery. Among the most important manufactures ex ported are cotton goods (including piece-goods, ribbons, embroidery, and lace), silk goods, watches and clocks, machinery, and cheese.