144 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. 



money and a sufficient capital in hand to improve it, will 

 obtain a good return for his capital, and probably double the 

 value of his estate ; but then he must expend capital on it ; 

 and certain it is, in Wermland during the last ten years no 

 great rise has taken place ; for I could quote numerous 

 instances of estates bought within my recollection, at what 

 would appear to an Englishman ridiculously low prices, the 

 proprietors of which have always been in trouble for the want 

 of capital to improve them, and if these estates were brought 

 into the market now, I very much question whether many of 

 them would realize their original cost, certainly not, if the 

 purchaser paid ready money. 



I really do not see any fair means of calculating the value 

 of an estate in Sweden, for so few are in the hands of tenant 

 farmers. Thus it is hardly possible to value the land at so 

 many years' purchase, on the return which it gives. It 

 would be all very well for the seller if he could always sell 

 at his own value, for the invariable answer you get if you 

 ask what such an estate is worth, is, " Oh, he wants such- 

 and-such a sum for it." 



They have the oddest way of valuing estates here that 

 can well be imagined. If a small estate be for sale, it is 

 advertised that it will feed so many horses, so many cows, 

 and that the occupier sows so many bushels of spring and 

 autumn corn. I see an estate in the north of Wermland 

 now advertised for sale, the items of which may interest the 

 English reader. 



The estate consists of house, etc. 



tunnland. 



Cultivated land . . V . ' , 158 



Pasture and meadow . . * . . 70 



wood . . . ;;. ; . 867 



1095 



Eight years' circulation can sow 50 tunna oats, 10 tunna 

 rye, 25 tunna potatoes ; and can feed 7 horses, 2 pair oxen, 35 

 cows, 10 young cattle, 30 sheep. The mortgage debt on 



