1 Report on the Agriculture of Sweden and Norioay. 175 
i June, however, the excess of temperature is 3° in favour of Stock- 
i holm, and this advantage is increased to more than 5 in the month 
\ of July. In August the excess is still 4° in favour of Sweden, 
while in September the average temperatures are about equal at 
the capitals of both countries. In October the advantage again 
belongs to England to the amount of 4°, and during the whole 
of the following months vegetation is at a standstill over the 
greater part of Sweden, while our climate permits the growth of 
roots and grass to continue another month, and, in favourable 
years, almost until Christmas. 
The table of rainfall shows that there is a difference of less 
than half an inch in the total average amount of rain that falls 
at Stockholm and at Greenwich in the course of the six months ; 
but that at Stockholm ' this rain is confined to 44 days, or an 
average of 7^ days per month, while at Greenwich it is spread 
over nearly 68 days, or 11^ per month, or an excess of 50 per 
cent. In this respect, also, the English climate favours the 
growth of both natural and artificial grasses much more than 
the Scandinavian. 
Farm Buildings. 
The buildings are nearly always of wood, on stone founda- 
tions, and are separated into as many different parts as possible, 
each house or stall being placed at a convenient distance from 
the homestead. Thus the barn, stable, cowshed, piggery, dairy, 
and granary, will be under so many roofs, distinct from each 
other and from the farmhouse.* Although this arrangement is 
not conducive to economy of labour or efficiency of supervision, 
it is obviously necessary in order to reduce to a minimum the pos- 
sible loss in case of fire. This consideration is by no means fan- 
ciful, for several times in the course of my journey I saw traces 
of the effect of fires on farm-buildings, as well as in towns and 
villages. Both Sweden and Norway have their Chicago ; and 
it is only necessary to refer to the last occasion, in 1869, when 
Gefle, in Sweden, was almost totally destroyed, to be impressed 
with the awful rapidity with which fire extends amongst wooden 
buildings. Drammen, in Norway, has a similar reputation, and 
has well earned it in recent years, having been to a great extent 
burnt down in 1866, and again in 1870. It may, however, be 
said generally that whatever is lost by the separation of t|ie 
different buildings is compensated for, as far as possible, by 
their economical interior arrangements. The cattle are arranged 
in the cowsheds and feeding byres in one or more double rows 
^ Here again the province of Serine presents an exception, the farm-buildings 
in that district being arranged in a hollow square on the Danish model. 
