SWITZERLAND. This interesting country does not produce corn enough for its consump tion. Flax and hemp are extensively grown ; but the chief territorial wealth of the highlands, and indeed of the greater part of Switzerland, consists in its pastures and its cattle. The vine is extensively cultivated in the cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Neufchatel, Zurich, Schaffhausen, Va lais, Ticino, and parts of Aargau, Thurgau, St. Gall, and Basel ; but the wine is generally infe rior. In the highland cantons cider is made. Kirschwasser is distilled. Mulberry-trees are planted and 'silk-worms reared in the canton of Ticino and the valleys on the Italian side of the Alps. Chestnut-trees are found in sheltered situations ; walnut-trees are more generally diffused; olive-trees grow only in some favoured spots of the canton of Ticino, where also the fig and peach-trees bear abun dantly, as well as .in some parts of the lower Valais. The highlands abound with timber trees, especially firs of various kinds, maple, beech, larch, birch, and oak trees. Most of the cottages and farm-houses are built of wood, and the same material is used for fuel, the annual consumption of which is enormous : a great quantity of timber is also exported to France and other countries. Coal-mines are worked in the cantons of Freyberg, Vaud, Basel, and Thurgau, but the coal is mostly of inferior quality. Iron is found in the Jura; and them are furnaces and iron-works of some import ance in the cantons of Vaud, Bern, Soleure, Basel, Aargau, and Grisons. In the Grisons there arc mines of lead, zinc, and galena. Salt-springs abound, but they are generally neglected, except those of Bex in the canton of Vaud. Switzerland has been a manufac- • turing country for centuries. In the canton of Zfirich the manufacture of silks, taffeta, serges, silk handkerchiefs, and ribands, gives employment tn, between 12,000 and 13,000 people. The cotton-manufactures of Zfirich
employ about 12,000 weavers, 5000 spinners, besides 4000 persons engaged in other trades connected with the cotton manufacture. The cantons of St. Gall and Appenzall have im portant manufactures of cotton cloths, fine muslins, cotton prints, leather, linen, glass, and jewellery. The city of Basel forms another emporium of trade and manufactures, princi.
pally of silk ribands, silk thread, taffeta, and satins. Schaffhausen has a manufactory of , steel and files, which is in great repute; one of cotton-spinning, and one of cotton prints. It has also a good transit trade with Germany.' At the opposite extremity of Switzerland, Geneva is a great mart of trade and industry. The manufactures of Geneva consist chiefly of watches, jewellery, and musical boxes ; but include also cabinet work, saddlery, litho-' graphy and engraving, cutlery, fire-arms, ena mels, &c. The chief industrial occupations in the canton of Neufchatel are—cotton printing, lace-making, and more especially watch-mak ing, which prevails greatly among the highlands of the Jura, giving employment to about 20,000 persons, who manufacture and export, yearly above 120,000 gold and silver watches. The cantons of Thurgau, Glarus, and Aargau manufacture cotton cloth, prints, and muslins of. all descriptions, hosiery, silks, and ribands ; in Aargau linen and cutlery are also made. The rest of the cantons of Switzerland menu facture merely what is required to supply their own wants. The manufactures find a vent in distant countries by passing through Ger many and the Sardinian States to the harbours of Holland and the Mediterranean.
The Great Exhibition affords gratifying proof that the industrial products of Switzer land are varied, ingenious, and valuable.