Sweden. 23 



(which every British farmer would of course insist upon) in a few 

 years double the area of his cultivated land. 



Of course, throughout this wide land, there is as much variety in 

 the soil as in the climate, and there are few estates of any size upon 

 which you will not find nearly every variety of soil which the farmer 

 requires j but of course, like England, Sweden has its rich and its 

 poor districts. Taking the land in general, I should say it was a 

 stiff, useful, but poor and hungry, soil, with much deep good land 

 by the sides of the river and lakes everywhere capable of great 

 improvement by ground drainage and care. The standard crops of 

 the country rye, oats, clover, and artificial grasses appear to grow 

 well on every farm. 



Rye is the principal corn grown in Sweden. In Wermland it 

 should, if possible, be in the ground by the beginning of August, 

 and the harvest will generally fall in that month. The measure in 

 use here is the tunna, and on a rough calculation we may reckon this 

 as equal to four English bushels, or half a quarter. The land is 

 measured by the tunneland, which is rather more than an English 

 acre. It is next to impossible to give a general average of the 

 crops in the midland districts, for so much depends upon the 

 weather and the seasons j and most of the land is in such bad 

 heart, that, unlike the farmer in England, who can generally 

 calculate upon his return with some certainty, the Swedish farmer 

 can hardly ever reckon, when he sows his corn, how much he may 

 get back. I know no country which wants it more, or which could 

 be more improved by ground-draining than this, and the expense of 

 ground-draining here is not dear about 2/. to 2/. los. per acre. 

 Artificial manures are coming much into fashion, although the 

 peasants stick to "muck," and muck only. Guano answers well 

 for an autumn dressing, but the summers are generally too dry to use 

 it in the spring. I wonder, considering how much they are wanted 

 at home, at the quantity of bones that are annually exported from 

 Sweden. 



A tunna of good rye will weigh from 26olb. to 3oolb. j and its 

 market price is always 155., and sometimes as high as i/. 



