AGRICULTURE. 145 



the estate is about 38,000 rqr., and the value set on by the 

 mortgagees is 56,000 rqr. 



Now valuing the wood at 1 per acre, or 867, to deduct 

 from the value of the whole estate, which in round numbers 

 we will reckon at 3000 English pounds, there remains a 

 little over 2000 for the purchase of the rest of the farm of 

 228 tunnland, or say, 270 English acres, at about 11 per 

 acre. 



It is very doubtful, even at this price, if the farm in such 

 a district would be a good speculation. The wood may be 

 worth much more, but this all depends upon the situation. 



Another method of calculating the value of an estate here 

 I learnt from a practical man. He first reckoned how many 

 cows the farm could feed, and allowing each to give the 

 yearly income of 150 rqr., he calculated this as the yearly 

 value of the estate, supposing the corn crops, etc., to pay 

 for labour, living, and all other expenses. But I am sure 

 I do not know how many years' purchase they would calcu- 

 late on this return, in buying the farm, I fancy not nearly 

 twenty-five. 



But to recur to the subject of these mortgage debts. Were 

 it not for the facility of obtaining money on mortgage (which, 

 however, appears not to be quite so easy now as formerly), 

 this mania for buying estates on speculation would be in some 

 degree checked ; at any rate the buyers would have to take 

 their capital out of their own pockets, and they would not 

 invest that capital so rashly, unless they saw there was 

 a safe return for their investment ; and they would not buy 

 a large estate with as little reflection as a cow or a horse, 

 as is often now the case. We all know if a man can obtain 

 credit with a tradesman, be it a tailor, shoemaker, or what 

 not, how many more articles he will purchase, than if he had 

 to pay ready money for them as he bought them ; conse- 

 quently, such surplus goods nine times out of ten are un- 

 necessary and this is just the case with the present system 

 of buying estates in Sweden. Not one-half of the men who 

 now purchase estates here, have any business to do so, for 



they have not sufficient capital to hold them, and a chance of a 



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