AGRICULTURE. 155 



The natural meadow grass growing by the sides of the 

 rivers, lakes, and swamps, is coarse and rough. I have 

 seen the poorer farmers cut much of the rough hedge grass, 

 and even the bull-rushes, right out of the lakes and rivers 

 for their cows in the winter. They also collect many birch 

 branches in the summer, and stack them as winter food for 

 the sheep. 



Except on an occasional gentleman's estate, you rarely 

 see a stack of corn ; all is stored in large barns. In fact, 

 there are very few Swedish farmers in a position to hold 

 their corn in stacks, and generally they have to drive it from 

 the field to the thrashing machine at once. 



Of course as cattle cannot be out during the winter, a 

 straw yard well filled with store oxen is never seen. 



The usual rotation of crops is : 1st. A dead fallow, 

 followed by rye or wheat, sown in August on land properly 

 manured. 2nd. Grass and clover sown in the spring ; this 

 will stand always two years, and give a good crop ; some- 

 times they let it stand even four years. 3rd. Oats. 4th. 

 Oats or barley.- 5th. Oats and tares. 6th. A bare fallow, 

 and then rye again. 



One of the greatest disadvantages to the Swedish farmer 

 is the want of regular country markets, where he can meet 

 his friends as in England, chat over the state of the crops, 

 and sell his grain. It is true there are fairs two or three 

 times a year in every town, where they sell their cattle, but 

 if a man has a good supply of corn to sell, he must either 

 ship it himself to Gothenburg, or -sell it to a commissioner 

 in the country, who is employed by some Gothenburg 

 corndealer to buy up on commission. As there is only 

 about one such in each district, and the saving of land car- 

 riage is a great objject to the farmer, who is generally too 

 poor to hold his corn, he is often obliged to sell at the 

 buyer's price. The poor peasant drives his little loads of 

 corn, or other produce into the towns, where it is bought up 

 by the small shopkeepers, and its sale being all he has to 

 depend upon for the little necessaries of life, he is obliged to 

 sell at any price ; and as the keg always stands invitingly in 



