no grazing-fields aside from the Alps, the cows of the plains are stall-fed through the entire year. In the summer the fresh-cut grass is fed to them. It is economy to cut the grass and carry it in as against permitting the meadows to be trampled, grass wasted, and the animals worried with flies. The cattle-stables are long, low, rectangular attachments to the barns. They are always built of stone, with walls about two feet thick. The stalls are usually ceiled over head, and often plastered throughout; the floors stone or cement, and bedded with poor hay, straw, or saw-dust, and a tight-fitting; oak door is at the end of the rectangle. These barns are very warm, but thoroughly ventilated, and the stalls are clean and nice beyond comparison. The cows are marched out to exercise, air, and water daily; they are curried and cared for the same as fine horses; their coats are brushed until they shine, and the animals are evidently vain of their beauty. In this, as in other cases, man’s regard for the lower animals appears to be rewarded by an increase in their intelligence. The universal reasons given for thus penning up these cows are: “It saves feed,” “the cows give more milk for the warmth,” “there are no flies to worry them,” and “more manure is obtained.” The peasant, pointing to the manure heap, will say, “Out there is where the per cents. are made.” As grass and hay are almost exclusively fed, it is requisite that these be of the best quality and of sufficient quantity. There is a great variety and succession of green crops for feeding in the house, almost the year round, carefully cultivated. A moist climate, frequent appliance of liquid manure,[82] and the practice of growing fruit-trees in the meadows prevent drought in Switzerland. Then much moisture comes from the incessant filtration of the melting glaciers which are constantly dissolving under the heat of the sun. The conditions of moisture and sunshine give to the country its abundance of grass, causing it to grow anywhere. You see it rapidly establishing itself on the tops of roadside walls. On a heap of stones lichens and moss soon appear, and, by their decay, in time fill the interstices, then a mantle of turf creeps over it. In excavations on hill-sides, where the mountain torrent brings down successive avalanches of rocky detritus, each successive layer in turn and in time becomes consolidated with mould and then covered with turf. Indeed, a greater part of the valleys consists of nothing but a film of soil superimposed on fragments of rock. There are two or three grass crops in Switzerland yearly,--the first in the beginning of May, the second at the end of July, and often another early in October. The mountains intercept winds and clouds, making the amount of precipitation large. The clouds are generally intercepted by the mountains at an elevation of five thousand feet, and then descend in rain; higher up the precipitation is in the form of snow.