daisy chain

Hi, 
maybe this is out of topic, but:
i have an embedded system with two lan adapters running linux, i would
like to wire a lot of it in a "daisy chain way":

         sys1              sys2              sys3              sysn-1
sysn
     +-----------+     +-----------+     +-----------+     +-----------+
+-----------+
     | eth0 eth1 |     | eth0 eth1 |     | eth0 eth1 |     | eth0 eth1 |
| eth0 eth1 |
     +-----------+     +-----------+     +-----------+     +-----------+
+-----------+
       |	  |          |      |          |      |          |
|          |
+--------+    +-----x----+      +-----x----+      +-----x----+
+-----x----+
| switch |     cross-cable
+--------+

This approach eliminate the need of expensive switches.
It's feasible?
how (bridging, routing?)
There is a limit of chaining devices number?

Any help will be appreciated.