Denmark, Sweden, and Itiissia. 
207 
In JVestmanland, it is said that the natural meadows, in former 
times fertile, having become less })roductive, the method had been 
ad()])tcd of ploughing them out, and after a few crops laying them 
again down to grass. The gradual wearing out of old pasture 
lands is here also observed, as it is so extensively in Cheshire. 
In this province the growth of flax, of whitebeet, and of clover 
was also extending ; marl had been discovered, which was already 
employed in the preparation of composts ; and a considerable 
extent of meadow land had been laid under irrigation, for which 
the Hjelmar canal afforded great facilities. Here also attempts 
were making to introduce the wooden shoe. 
In Gijleborg, the agriculturist, Mr. Stephens, had been called 
in, and had advised the inhabitants of the province in regard to 
available methods by which the local agriculture might be pro- 
moted. The manufacture of potash introduced by the society a 
few years ago continued to extend. 
In Nijkdjnnq, the desire of improvement was restrained among 
the body of the people by the want of capital. Among the large 
proprietors the alternate husbandry was extending. Some new 
land had been brought into cultivation, some of the old worn-out 
pastures had been ploughed up, to be afterwards laid down again 
with seeds, and some extent of oak plantation had been formed in 
the province. 
In Upsala, the cultivation of clover and the artificial grasses 
was extending, prizes had been given to the smaller farmers for 
sheep and cattle reared from native stock, and forty-five head of 
bulls and cows had been imported from foreign countries by the 
larger landowners. Operations were also in progress, after a plan 
of Mr. Stephens, for bringing into an arable state 2000 tons of 
naturally fertile land. Many English drill and turn-wrest ploughs 
had lately been introduced, a bone-mill had been erected, and the 
society had caused that part of ' Professor Lowe's Practical Agri- 
culture' which relates to turnips, potatoes, and other roots, to be 
translated for distribution in the province. The use of wooden 
shoes had also been encouraged.* 
In Fahlun, the alternate husbandry, the use of bone-dust, the 
preparation of composts, and the sowing of winter corn, are be- 
coming more prevalent. 
In the more northern provinces, where corn ripens badly, the 
chief encouragement has been given to the draining of wet carrs 
and marshy lands, of which there are a great extent in this part 
* I have quoted these exertions for the introduction of wooden shoes to 
be worn over the leather boot, not only in evidence of the kind of interest 
taken by the societies in the welfare of the peasantry, but also of the extent 
to which surface water still rests upon the land in many of the Swedish 
provinces. 
