Rq>ort Oil the Agriculture of Sweden and Norivai/. 193 
Harvesting. 
The climate of Norway and the North of Sweden renders 
the harvesting of the crops in good condition somewhat diffi- 
cult. I was therefore curious to learn what expedients, if any, 
were resorted to in the case of wet or frosty weather ; for even 
" snow in harvest " would not be looked upon as a miracle in 
some of these northern regions. The most common plan is to 
spit the sheaves on poles, which are planted in the field for the 
purpose, in long rows, at equal distances from pole to pole, and 
from row to row. Either the poles are stuck through the sheaves, 
or the sheaves are bound to the poles in couples, one on each 
side, as in Fig. 6. The number of sheaves piled one above the 
other varies according to circumstances, but generally an interval 
is left between the lowest sheaf and the ground, unless it is occu- 
pied by an upright sheaf forming a support for the horizontal 
ones above. Peas, tares, &c., and frequently even clover and 
grass, are dried by being hung across rails, or a kind of hurdle 
or fence, on the plan of a common clothes-horse. 
Fig. 6. — Sheaves bound to Poles to hasten their drying, as practised in 
Sweden and Norway. 
Reaping-machines are slowly making their way (the American 
"Buck-Eye" is most often seen) ; but their more general adoption 
is retarded by the existence of so many open parallel drains — 
•which are rendered necessary by the sudden thawing of the snow 
in the spring — as well as by the fact that the regular staff of 
servants engaged by the year to work on the farm in summer and 
in the forest in winter is so large as to render the Scandinavian 
larmer comparatively independent of mechanical aids in the 
j operations of reaping and mowing. 
VOL, XI. — S. S. 
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