246 Report on the Agriculture of Sweden and Noncay., 
cost of the hay and green food obtained from the irrigated 
meadows. 
The foregoing argument should not be pushed too far, as the 
production of a sufficient quantity of milk, butter, and cheese for 
the wants of the community is both necessary to the consumer 
and profitable to the producer. But in Sweden nearly eveiy 
farmer is a dairyman ; it is therefore not surprising that the 
maximum price of milk obtained by a large producer close to 
Stockholm, the capital of the country, does not now reach 8</. 
per gallon. Then, although butter obtains a high price if it is 
of exceptionally good quality, the percentage of the total product 
belonging to that category is remarkably small ; while inferior 
butter and skim-cheese are so abundant in the market, and 
therefore so cheap, that they do not pay the cost of production. 
The same may be said of whole-milk cheese, many dairymen 
having recently altered their practice to the making of butter 
and skim-cheese on that account. The fact is, the climate of 
Sweden renders dairying an expensive business, even under the 
most favourable circumstances ; but under the method generally 
followed, the market for dairy products (except of the very finest 
quality) is overdone, and, owing to the combination of these 
conditions, dairying does not often pay. 
Farm Labour. 
Farm-labourers are generally hired by the year, and the agree- 
ment is made some time in advance of the period from which it 
is to commence. Thus arrangements are made in July for the 
year commencing the October following. The dates and scales 
of payment vary in different parts of the country, but the prin- 
ciple is the same throughout. 
Labourers are paid in three ways, namely, entirely in money, 
or partly in money and partly in kind, or entirely in land. The 
last-mentioned, or ".torp,"' system is the oldest. Some farms are 
entirely cultivated by " torpare," in which case about as much 
land is occupied by them as by the farmer. As a case in point, 
I may quote a farm (Gammalstorp, near Satenys) recently pur- 
chased by a Danish gentleman, Lieut. Hansen. He has 960 
acres in hand, and his labourers occupy 840 more ; but hitherto he 
has paid no money wages except to a foreman, some cattlemen, 
and the dairymaids. The proportion of land allotted as pay- 
ment for labour varies according to its quality, and to the value of 
the additional mountain-pasture, and of the wood for fuel. Both 
of these are most valuable in the more northern provinces. The 
amount of work given as rent for the land also varies with cir- 
cumstances ; but generally a labourer occupying 12 imperial 
