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HOFWYL. IBHIGATION.

country. But in all the slave states, do not the women workindiscriminately as the men ? Ah! but then they are ne-groes ; this puts them into another category, and complexionappears to bring their humanity into question. In the arabledistricts of Switzerland I was told that the farms consistedusually of fifty acres, and many of these farms gave thestrongest indications of independence and comfort. Thefarms in Switzerland are divided by fences ; and, with theexception of the loftiest heights, it may be said that a Swissvery much resembles a New England landscape.

XXXV. HOFWYL. IRRIGATION.

I visited in Switzerland the celebrated establishment ofthe late Mr. De Fellenberg, at Hofwyl, near Berne, for educa-tion. No school is better known ; and it is believed thatnone ever better deserved public esteem and confidence. Itdoes not come within my province to speak of it in this placeas a literary institution; but as a farm it may be consideredas a model well worth studying. I have already spoken ofthe cows at this place, of which there were sixty, the superiorsto which, in condition and produce, have not come withinmy view.

The most remarkable improvement which I witnessed inthis place was in irrigation. The land irrigated was in theshape of a bowl or basin, of which one side was wanting. Thewater, after turning a flour mill, was brought a considerabledistance in a race way on a bank, and then was carried roundthrough successive rivulets formed round the sides of thissemicircle or amphitheatre, watering the intervals betweenthese gutters or trenches, and afterwards spreading itselfover an extensive piece of flat land ; thus, at pleasure, water-ing one hundred and fifty acres of land. Nothing which Ihave seen could be better managed ; and the success of the

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