1 8 Sweden. 



of corn were yearly imported into the province of Wermland, 

 whereas now the export exceeds the import by 6000 tunna. 



Every Swedish country gentleman is something of a farmer, 

 living upon and cultivating his own estate. The principal part of 

 his produce goes to the support of his household, and the sale of his 

 surplus corn and timber from his forests covers incidental expenses. 

 Thus he passes his time quietly and happily in the bosom of his 

 family a country gentleman or squire in every sense of the word, 

 with just enough employment to keep his time occupied j and 

 if he is not rich compared to the British landowner, his expenses 

 are much less j and his estate supplies him and his family 

 with all the real necessaries of life. But do not let the reader 

 suppose that the gentleman farmer works here as in England. 

 An inspector or bailiff is kept on every estate ; and, as to the 

 farmer himself, his knowledge is principally theoretical, as no one 

 above the class of a peasant understands much about the practical 

 part of the affair. It is not to be wondered at that we see true 

 pictures of domestic happiness in the Swedish homes, where the 

 members are so much more closely thrown together than in 

 England. Hospitable and kind-hearted, a stranger is treated as 

 " a friend and a brother " wherever he comes. 



It is much to be regretted that the youth of this country take 

 little or no interest in athletic games, such as cricket, rowing, &c., 

 and the many other outdoor manly exercises in which young 

 England delights (and which, whatever your soft-hearted carpet- 

 knights may say, have tended more than anything else to bring 

 England to the high position she now holds), for a finer, hand- 

 somer race of men than the upper classes in Sweden, take them 

 altogether, it would be hard to find generally large grown, and 

 the average standard certainly above that of the English. And, as 

 to the females, it is without the slightest flattery when I say that I 

 have certainly seen more fine women, in proportion to their 

 numbers, in this country than in any other ; and the proud beauties 

 of England would find it hard to " hold their own " when brought 

 side by side with the fresh, healthy beauty of the north. And, 



