The Alps and other Swiss mountains contain a rich and inexhaust ible supply of summer pasture for the cattle and flocks of the greater part of Switzerland. A large proportion of land in the valleys and plains is kept as grus.fields, and mowed for winter fodder, an essential and rather dear article in a country so largely stocked with cattle. In the two cantons of Vaud and Neufchatel the cultivation of the vine obtains the preference over tho other branches of agriculture. In the mountain cantons the old grasslands are never broken up.
lreu is found in the Jura ; and there are furnaces and iron-works in the cantons of Vaud, Bern, Soleure, Basel, and Aargau, and like wise in the Orisons. In the Grisons there are mines of lead, zinc, and galena. Salt-springs abound iu Switzerland, but they are gene rally neglected, except those of Bex in the canton of Vaud. Switzer land imports much salt from Germany and other countries. There are mineral springs at Baden and Schinznach in the Aargau, at Sta Mode, In the Orisons, and nt several other places.
The lakes and rivers of Switzerland abound with fish, especially trout of various kinds. In the lakes of Geneva and Constanz there are trout that weigh from 30 to 60 lbe. The salmon is found in the Rhine, the Aar, and the Lake of Ztirich; tench, carp, perch, eels, and crabs are found in most Swiss waters.
The game consists chiefly of chatnoie, bares, marmots, and ridges. Bears and wolves are hunted in the Alps and the Jura. Birds of prey of large dimensions are common in the mountains.
Trade and Manufacturee.—Switzerland has been, at least in part, E manufacturing country for centuries. In the canton of Zurich the manufacture of silks, florentinca, gros-de-Naples, taffetas, sergee, levan tines, silk-handkerchiefs, and ribbons, give employment to severs. thousand hands. The cotton-manufacturea and cotton-printing estab lishmente of Zurich are also of great importance, and give emproymen. to a large number of the population. Zurich and Winterthur ant the villages along the banks of the Lake of ZUrich are the priucipa setts of manufacturing industry. The cantons of SL-Gall and Appen sell constitute another important manufacturing district, especially o cotton goods. Appenzell manufactures some very fine plain am embroidered muslius. SL-Gall also manufactures muslins and print in considerable quantities, leather, linen, glass, and goldsmith-ware.
The city of Basel, besides being a great centre of foreign am domestic trade, manufactures largely silk-ribands, silk-thread, taffetas and satins. The export of ribands from Basel to the United State: Germany, Holland, Sweden, and other countries is very large. Th other branches of manufacture at Basel are leather, paper, and tobacc Geneva manufactures vast numbers of watches, also jewellery, au, musical-boxes. The watches and musical-boxes are sold all eve Europe, the Levant, America, and the north of Africa; the is sold mostly in Italy. The other branches of manufacture a
Geneva are cabinet-work, saddlery, lithography and engraving, cutlers firearms, enamels, &e.
The manufactures of the canton of Neufchatel comprise the prin. Ing of cottons and watchanaking for the export trade. The district of Lode and La-Cheux-de-Fond, among the highlands of the Jur are the great centres of the watch-making trade. The watches ar es ported to the same countries as those made at Geneva. The canto of Thurgau has a considerable manufacture of cotton goods, seven cotton-arintlog establishments, and some linen factories. The sma canton of Glarus manufactures a considerable quantity of cotton goods, prints, sod muslin/. Aargau manufactures cotton-cloth of n descriptions, white and coloured handkerchiefs, prints, stockings, an other hosiery, also silks, and ribanda, and silks mixed with wool an cottens, litmus, and cutlery.
The rest of the canton. of Switzerland cannot bo considered manufacturing countries, although most of them have some snare factures, but only to supply their own wants. Special rnanufactur, are noticed in the articles on the several cantons. The trade I vitzerlaod with foreign countries is founded upon the principle of eiprocal trade and free transit. It is greatly facilitated since the vention of railroads. These means of rapid transit connect Basel ith all the chief towns of France and Germany. A good deal of saes produce is exported from Genoa.
In the interior of the country there are as yet but few railroads •mpleted ; but several lines are projected, among which is n great unk line from Basel to Geneva, through Bens. This line curves 'und the north shore of the Lake of Geneva, from Geneva to :orges, whence a branch, now completed, continues along the lake ustward to Lausanne. The main line runs north-by-east from Morges • Yverdun (this section ie completed), thence mat-north-east along se east shores of the lakes of Neufchatel and Murat to Bern ; from em north-east down the lower part of the Emmenthal and across so Aar below Soleure to Often ; and from Olten north-west to Basel. rem Olten a line was authorised in 1852, running south-south-east trough Zeffingen to Luzern on the lake of that name, which is to navigated by swift steamers ; and from the Uri end of the lake a silroad is projected to run up the valley of the Reuss nearly to the wt of the SL-Gothard. From Olten a line has been projected by se Aar and the Limmat to Zurich, and thence to Rorschach on the .ake of Constanz, whence steamers will communicate with the ter sini of the Wurtemberg and Bavarian railroads at Frieclrichshafen nd Lindau respectively on the east shore of this lake. A part of lie line between Zurich and Baden in Aargau is already open. In onnection with the Merges and Yves-dun section steamers ply on tho sites of Neufchatel and Bienne. The French and Sardinian governs rents have each contemplated making railroads to terminate at leneva.