208 
Agricvltural Tour in 
of Sweden, By the multiplication of a hardy race of stoclc, and 
by the introduction of subsidiary occupations, the value of these 
provinces to the state and the comfort of its inhabitants will, it is 
conceived, be most essentially promoted. Prizes, therefore, have 
been given for surface-draining and improving such waste lands; 
the society at Umea had maintained a pupil at the Herd-school in 
Smaland ; and the manufacture of potash and saltpetre''" had been 
greatly extended. 
In JemUund, one of the western districts of this northern region, 
a parish committee had been formed in every parish, from which 
the most beneficial results had followed. The central society, by 
these means, had been able to collect Information in regard to the 
most remote parts of their wide province, while the members of 
each parish committee obtained in return advice, instruction, and 
assistance in reference to their own most pressing wants. 
It is in these remote provinces, where long winters reign, and 
where even the summer season does not bring with it the same 
full and constant employment which in arable districts the prac- 
tical farmer meets with, that subsidiary employments, independent 
of the seasons, become of most importance : hence the anxiety to 
promote the manufacture of potash and of saltjietre, articles of ex- 
port for which a ready sale can be found, and in exchange for 
which other useful commodities may be readily obtained. From 
the northern provinces of Sweden the finest and most highly 
prized linen of home manufacture is brought. This manufacture 
affords a certain amount of occupation for the long winters. The 
mission of Assessor Plageman, lor which, as I have already men- 
tioned, an annual grant has been given by government, has been 
chiefly for the purpose of instructing the inhabitants of East and 
West Bothnia in the extraction of turpentine, and in the prepara- 
tion of tar, pitch, and other products which their native forests are 
capable of yielding. This, it will be seen, is another important 
method of increasing the comfort and v/ealth of a growing popu- 
lation.! 
* The manufacture of saltpetre is an old occupation in Sweden. In 
certain provinces the occupier of cacli f;um (hemnian) was bound to de- 
liver so much saltpetre annually to the Government. In some districts 
this is now commuted into a money-paym.ent, but it is still called the 
saltpetre-skaft — the saltpetre-tax. 
t The natives of the nortliern provinces, both men and women, frequent 
the more southern districts in quest of employment. Every one who has 
been in Stockholm has observed the numerous Dalecarlians who, in their 
native costume, labour in the streets of that city. They are generally pre- 
ferred, where assiduous labour is wanted, to the natives of the district. In 
the neighbourhood of Upsala, I was informed, that of the females employed 
in agricultural labour, the native received 20, and the Dalecarlian woman 
27 skillings a-day (Gr7. to Bd. sterling). The Dalecarlians live upon 10, and 
send the rest home. 
