AGRICULTURE. 137 



I may here add that the writer of course supposes the 

 farm to be in the hands of a practical farmer, and in a good 

 farming district. 



We will now turn to the before -mentioned letter in my 

 farming statistics, which reckons that at the average .price 

 of corn and the present growth of an average of five tunna 

 to the tunnland, farming, as it is now carried on, is not 

 paying, and this I believe, but I also believe everything 

 that is stated in the letter I have just inserted. And any 

 man who carefully reads the two statements, will soon see 

 the reason why farming does not pay here as it is carried on 

 at present, and moreover that it could be made to pay if 

 it were only carried on properly. 



I have shown both the above letters to practical men, 

 and they all agree that the figures are pretty correct, and in 

 the main will apply to nine-tenths of the purchased farms 

 in Sweden. 



Assuming this to be so, we shall see that, in good 

 hands and worked with a sufficient capital, farming in 

 certain parts of Sweden might become as profitable as in 

 England ; and that a practical English farmer who knew a 

 little of the language and the habits of the country, with a 

 capital say of 4000, might according to the above calcula- 

 tion, purchase an estate in Sweden of about 250 English 

 acres, stock it properly, and if he worked it as it should 

 be, might calculate upon a very fair return for his capital 

 invested. Moreover, the farm would be his own, and could 

 never deteriorate in value by proper management ; but pro- 

 bably in ten years' time it might be of considerably more 

 value under a proper system of cultivation ; and we have alto- 

 gether left out the 100 acres of rough meadow or woodland, 

 and it would be odd if these could not be made something 

 of, by a good practical man. I fancy at the present time 

 many a large farm in Sweden could be bought for the same 

 money, if the buyer went into the market with ready cash. 



I should never wish to induce any British farmer to 

 leave the old country, and seek to gain a living in a foreign 

 land, especially one where the language is new to him. At 



