Note 1319 — Chapter XVI · —Influences Of A Mountain Environment

Mountain hay-making leaves nothing to chance; too much depends upon the crop. In fact, at high altitudes it becomes the only crop. Cereal culture drops off with every increase of elevation. Norway has few fields above 1600 feet;1319 even barley fails to ripen above 2600 feet. In the mountains of Würtenberg we find pure Graswirthschaft at 3000 feet elevation, with only a small garden patch near the dwelling.1320 It is interesting to take a tramp up one of the longitudinal or lateral valleys of the Alps, and observe the economic basis of life gradually change from agriculture to hay-making, till in some high-laid Alpine cirque, like Bad Leuk or Barmaz at the head of the Val d'Ilez, one sees only meadows and an occasional potato patch, which impresses the lowlander as a last despairing effort in the struggle for existence.