160 TEN TEARS IN SWEDEN. 



of Sweden they are brought into the house, about the end of 

 October, and rarely leave it again till the middle of May. 

 During the summer they pasture in the forests and grass 

 lands, and during the winter the principal food is rye straw 

 with a little hay. They often have no litter to stand on, and 

 generally nothing but the bare boards to lie on, with per- 

 haps the luxury of a little saw-dust sprinkled over them. 

 The race of cows peculiar to the country are small, hardy 

 little animals, and the general yield of milk among the 

 peasants' cows is probably 300 kanna, or about 200 English 

 gallons per year. But by those who look upon the cow in a 

 proper light as nothing more than a (C milking machine," 

 which will give a return only in proportion to its food, be 

 that good or bad, the cows are better tended, better fed, 

 and the yearly returns of milk, of course, proportionally 

 greater. At Gardsjo, where the cows are of the small 

 Swedish race, the quantity of milk given in 1862 by 26 cows 

 was 16,555 kanna, whereof 19 cows produced 12,160, or 640 

 kanna each. At Warpnas, another dairy farm in the neigh- 

 bourhood, a much better paying farm, where the cows 

 are of the large Ayrshire race, the average return of milk 

 for each cow, was 926 kanna in the year. It is very doubt- 

 ful, however, whether on such an estate as Gardsjo these 

 Ayrshire cows would have done better than the little 

 Swedish cows, certainly not on the same keep. About 4 

 may be taken as the usual price of an in-calf heifer in the 

 country. Milk, new, with the cream on, in the country, 

 may be quoted at 3d. a kanna ; skimmed milk, 2d. ; 

 butter, 6d. to Is. a lb., according to the time of year, and 

 cheese at all prices according to quality, from 2d. to 9d. 

 These prices, however, do not rule the markets in the towns, 

 and a man who happens to have a dairy within an easy dis- 

 tance from a town, always finds it a profitable speculation. 

 In the state the land is now, I am convinced the little 

 Swedish cows are best for the Swedish farmer ; but as agri- 

 culture improves, and they begin to turn their attention 

 more to stall feeding, a judicious importation of large English 

 breed will, of course, improve the present race. 



