280 Of the Checks to Population Bk. ii. 



and bad nourishment; and this, from observation, 

 appears to be really the case. 



Sweden does not produce food sufficient for its 

 population. Its annual want in the article of 

 grain, according to a calculation made from the 

 years 1768 and 1772, is 440,000 tuns.* This 

 quantity or near it, has in general been imported 

 from foreign countries, besides pork, butter and 

 cheese to a considerable amount. t 



The distillation of spirits in Sweden is supposed 

 to consume above 400,000 tuns of grain; and 

 when this distillation has been prohibited by 

 government, a variation in defect appears in the 

 tables of importations ; J but no great variations 

 in excess are observable to supply the deficiencies 

 in years of scanty harvests, which it is well 

 known occur frequently. In years the most 

 abundant, when the distillation has been free, it 

 is asserted that 388,000 tuns have in general 

 been imported.^ It follows therefore that the 

 Swedes consume all the produce of their best 

 years, and nearly 400,000 more; and that in 

 their worst years their consumption must be 

 diminished by nearly the whole deficiency in 

 their crops. The mass of the people appears to 

 be too poor to purchase nearly the same quantity 



* Memoires du Royaunie de Suede, table xvii. p. 174. 



+ Id. c. vi. pi 198. 



{ Id. table xlii. p. 418, c. vi. p. 201. I did not find out ex- 

 actly the measure of the Swedish tun. It is rather less than our 

 sack, or half-quarter. 



§ Id. c. vi p. 201. 



