1814.] and en Vegetation. 109 



spring, at Atjiirn, between Fahltr'dik and Bjtrldckan, on the 16th 

 and i?7th July, 3b 3°. 



Gransele; lat. 65°. 



The shores of the JFlndtlf, at Gransele and Gargelf, on the 

 Gargelf, are almost the highest places on which the inhabitants are 

 engaged in earnest with agriculture. Even here, however, the rye 

 generally ripens sufficiently to repay the trouble of the cultivator ; 

 but they employ scarcely any means to promote the fruitfulness of 

 the soil. It would be in vain to have recourse to the practice of 

 fallowing; for not a single blade of grass appears without culture, 

 and in harvest the field is barer than before. The colonists are 

 obliged to employ so great a quantity of manure that they complain 

 of the want of it, being deprived of the assistance of their cattle 

 during the greatest part of the year. Probably the cause of this is 

 to be ascribed to the coldness of the earth. In so low a temperature 

 the manure does not putrify, and is therefore unsuitable for the 

 plants which vegetate in it. All the morasses appear covered with 

 black, apparently fruitful, turf; yet the grass can be cut down only 

 every other year, otherwise the strength of the roots would be 

 materially injured. The effect of burning, which is so remarkably 

 beneficial here, proceeds from the increase of temperature which 

 the soil receives, and from the chemical influence of the ashes in 

 producing putrefaction and solution. 



The short time that the corn requires for ripening in Lapland 

 applies only to barley and oats. Rye in general requires a longer 

 time to ripen than it does farther south. 1 have seen rve cut down 

 in Lappmark in the middle of September, which had been sown 

 the preceding year in the middle of July, and therefore had been 

 ten months in the earth before it could be cut down. In Helsin^e- 

 land, indeed, the rye ripens before the barley, yet the new rve 

 must be sown before the old crop is cut down. In Upsala, after the 

 harvest of the old rye the sowing of the new commences, but not 

 till after the reaping of the barley. At Calniar, and in Blekinge, 

 OB the other hand, so great is the interval between the reaping of 

 the old and the sowing of the new crop, that it leaves more than 

 sufficient time for the complete harvest of the barley. In these 

 places rye ripens three months sooner than in Lappmark. 



Convallaria majalis is still to be found in sheltered places. Sulix 

 glauca, on the other hand, climbs up the mountains and spreads 

 itself, as does likewise salix arenariu. Burtsia alpina appears on 

 the banks of rivers. 



Near Sonde, west from the church, at Raswamyr, there is a 

 1 spring rising in a bason a fathom deep, and apparently 

 ■Greened from the effect of the external air. The temperature at 

 the bottom of the bason among the moving sand was, on the 13th 

 and 24th of July, 356°. This cannot be far from the true mean 

 temperature of the earth, as it differs so little from the temperature 

 at Lycksele. Another spring, at Galgatmyr, near the hill Su'cgo 



