78 TRAXSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The places of interest that the Society visited in Stockholm 

 are too numerous to describe at length in this report. Riddar- 

 holm Church, with its memorials to Sweden's kings, and many 

 trophies of war ; and the Royal Palace, an enormous building, 

 devoid of ai-chitectural grace, but containing much that is 

 valuable, were sought out by the members. Stockholm has 

 probably the best telephone system in the world, and the visit 

 to the telephone tower was one of the most interesting. Outside 

 of the city the Society visited King Oscar's Summer Palace at 

 Drottningholm, on the beautiful Lake Malaren ; and its members 

 were called upon to choose for a further excursion between the, 

 inspection of a model dairy farm, or a trip to Saltjobaden and 

 the Baltic Archipelago. The party divided, and both sections 

 returned with glowing accounts of their visits. Cow-keeping 

 seems to have been brought to the highest state of perfection 

 near Stockholm. All over the country one finds the most 

 delightful dairy products — Scandinavia is world-famous for 

 them; but still the visitors were surprised by what they saw. 

 The health of the cows is attended to in every particular ; the 

 space provided for their accommodation is the result of the closest 

 search into the laws of milk-production and hygienic science. 

 But as illnesses will occur where two or three hundred cows are 

 kept, a fully-equipped hospital is provided within the grounds to 

 receive the bovine patients. Much of the heavy work, as, for 

 instance, that connected with the feeding of the cows and the 

 cleaning of the byre, is done automatically. In Britain, dairy 

 workers are becoming scarce, and one may reflect that if the 

 drudgery work were performed by means such as those seen at 

 this farm, they would be obtained more easily. We have 

 advanced somewhat in dairy matters, but we are seen to be 

 still far behind if we compare our own with institutions like 

 that near Stockholm. 



Those who went to Saltjobaden and the group of neighbouring 

 islands, found a type of scenery with which we are not familiar 

 at home. Saltjobaden is the retreat of Stockholm's wealthy 

 business men. They find in it the antidote to the poisons of the 

 town. Its virtues may be thought to be negative : there are 

 no streets, no shops, no theatres. A few lightly-constructed 

 wooden houses are dotted over the little peninsula. Were all 

 the soil on it gathered together, it would hardly suffice to form 

 one respectable garden. All is bare smooth rock, and around it 



