1885.] THE FARTHER NORTH THE BEST SEEDS? 281 



infested with these destructive pests. Conifers raised from such 

 northern seeds are more vigorous, enabling them to resist diseases 

 induced by insects and fungi. In experiments made in Denmark 

 during 1881, where seed-beds of Swedish and German pine were 

 alternately sown, nearly all the plants from German seeds succumbed 

 to disease, though the plants from Swedish seed also attacked, 

 preserved their vitality. A trifle more than 200,000 vigorous 

 plants has been obtained from each kilogramme of good seed of 

 Swedish pine. The prolonged daylight and shortness of the nights 

 in summer of the Scandinavian north, the equable moisture, and 

 the abundance of mineral plant-food in the soil, may all partly 

 account for this. And the intelligence of the peasants must as 

 well be a main factor in sucli results. 



These northern seeds appear to contain in greater proportion, 

 what continental botanists term reserve of nourishment, i.e. the 

 albumen of ordinary cereals. The plants sprung from them thus 

 acquire a start in the race of life, which they preserve throughout ; 

 their roots grow more quickty — they are also thus better able to 

 combat the noxious influences of uncongenial soil. A better 

 harvest in stalk and seed, as well as a harvest gathered two or 

 three weeks sooner, more than compensates for any additional 

 expense in collection and transport. 



This is being recognised by Swedish agriculturists themselves, 

 who are contracting for the regular supply of such trustworthy 

 seeds from their more northern regions. Thus the districts round 

 about the towns of Haparanda and Tornea, at the extremity of the 

 Gulf of Bothnia, supply the cultivators in the districts around 

 Umca, a town lower down on the same gulf ; the central part of 

 Vestrobothnia frequently supplies Angermanland, and so on. Again, 

 the agriculturists of a small village of Skiine — a district in 

 Sweden well known for the production of excellent barley — bind 

 themselves by a formal engagement to abandon entirely the culti- 

 vation of oats, so that their seed may not intermingle with that 

 of barley. This is on a small scale ; but the great landowners are 

 now seeking to specialize great districts for the cultivation of 

 particular cereals. Thus Osteriing and Karpaland are well known 

 beyond the frontiers of Scandinavia. Alsike clover is largely 

 cultivated in the central districts of the country, viz. Ostrogothie, 

 Yestrogothie, Sudermanie, Upland, Nericie, and Vestmanland, for 

 exportation of the seed. 



Owing to an agitation in 1874, by the Eoyal Academy of 

 Agriculture, there are now sixteen stations spread throughout 

 Sweden, for the control of such seed-sowing ; and as the result of a 

 further circular sent forth by the same body in 1880, societies for 



