Prof. Hausmann on the Pht/siognomt/ of Scandinavia. 79 



\y in a crooked form, in the above countries surpasses the spruce 

 fir by its height, straightness of its growth, as vvell as the firm- 

 ness of the timber. It is hence the tree most highly prized in 

 Sweden and Norway, and in the latter country is the most 

 powerful support of its prosperity. '/ 



The meadows which are enclosed by the Swedish forests rival 

 these latter in beauty. Although the meadows want the variety 

 of flowers, and the height of the grass by which those of 

 southern regions are distinguished, we find in them, on the con- 

 trary, the plants closer together. Among these the Arnica mon- 

 tana and Linnea borealis particularly delight the eye. The 

 green, likewise, of the grass is brighter and fresher, and of more 

 lasting duration. 



The want of underwood and copse, which circumstance in 

 Sweden is so new to the eye accustomed to German scenery, is 

 as striking as the enclosures of fields, meadows, and kinds of 

 barn-yards here in use. In no part of Sweden do we see live 

 hedges, but only fences invariably formed of the stems of young 

 pines placed together, and horizontal rows of wood to keep them 

 firm. Where they know how to make a better use of their 

 timber, these fences are supplanted by stone walls. 



Although nearly all Sweden is, in a peculiar sense, a great 

 rocky mass, still, even in the towns, with the exception of Stock- 

 holm and Gottenburg, it is but seldom that we find houses 

 built of stone. The greater warmth of the wooden houses, 

 scarcity of clay for bricks, and of good mortar, are the prin- 

 cipal causes of this. Most of the Swedish houses, as well 

 the cottages of poor peasants as the dwellings of the rich, are 

 constructed of the trunks of trees, laid lengthwise over one an- 

 other, and dove-tailed together at their extremities. The inter- 

 stices are stopped up with moss ; the roofing is various, but is 

 generally of wood, and covered over with earth. It is not only 

 by the above style of architecture, which at most permits only 

 one method of construction, but likewise from the brownish-red 

 colour * which they almost universally give them, that the houses 

 have quite a singular appearance ; and this is not without its 



• This colouring matter, which conduces very much to preserve the wood, 

 is prepared from the washed residue of roasted alum-slate, which contains 

 much iron-pyrites scattered through it ; or it is prepared by bummg weather- 

 ed pyrites. 



