154 TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN. 



good bean land in the middle of Sweden. Peas and vetches 

 seem to grow in most parts. I am told, however, that 

 around Gothenburg and in Bohus Land they grow some 

 capital bean crops. 



Potatoes in the spring of 1864 were worth about 5 rqr. 

 per tunna (but they became scarce, and in June the poor 

 peasants had to pay 8 rqr. per tunna for their seed), and 

 for Swedish turnips about 4 rqr. In Gardsjo they generally 

 plant 15 tunna of potatoes to 3 tunnland of land, and get 

 back at times 150 tunna, and they can reckon on their potato 

 crop better than any other. 



In 1864, however, in which the spring was so cold and 

 backward, many of the potatoes were not planted until the 

 second week in June, and yet they said if the rain came soon 

 they might reckon on a good crop. 



To show the variability of this climate, we often at night 

 had 2 of frost at the very end of May, while in the second 

 week of June the thermometer in the sun at five o'clock, 

 p.m., stood more than once as high as 108 F. 



Turnips are as yet but little grown, especially in the 

 midland districts, for the land is not in sufficient heart 

 to carry good crops. I have remarked that the turnip crop 

 is very precarious j the best crop at Gardsjo, was about 200 

 tunna, or 800 bushels to the tunnland. 



On good ground, but it must be well underdrained, car- 

 rots will grow well, and the crop at Gardsjo has yielded 200 

 tunna to the tunnland. 



The clover and artificial grass crops are excellent, and as 

 there is in this country no rich old natural meadow-grass as 

 in England, it is the standard hay crop. The usual seed 

 sown is white and red clover and Timothy grass mixed, 

 30 Ib. to the tunnland, sown on rye or wheat in the spring, 

 often on the top of the snow (very rarely on oats). A real 

 good crop will yield as much as 10 loads to the tunnland, 

 but they often get much less. The price of a load of 

 such hay weighing 400 Ib. will be from 7 to 9 rqr. I have 

 known it even higher. The usual price of oat straw is 51s., 

 and of rye straw 31s. per load of 400 Ib. 



