two handles, like our plough, it terminates in one which has a piece
o f cross wood at its extremity, like the handle of a spade. The
ploughman holds it by one hand, while the other is quite at liberty,
and he seems to make very little exertion indeed. It is drawn by two
horses, two oxen, or sometimes two cows, and one man manages it
without any driver. This plough is not intended to go deep; indeed
it does little more than just scratch the surface. The ridges are generally
tolerably straight, though greatly inferior in this respect to what
they are in East Lothian and the south o f Scotland.
The fields are all enclosed with wooden palings. This kind o f enclosure
has some advantage over live hedges, by not collecting together
so many birds, and by losing less space. But it is inferior as a shelter
to the fields from the winds. Stone walls, which from the abundance
of materials might be constructed at a very small expense, would be
the best kind o f enclosure in Sweden. Indeed most of the corn fields
are so thick scattered with stones, that one is surprised how the corn
grows at all. There is a prejudice in favour o f these stones in Sweden,
they are conceived to shelter the corn; and I have seen this prejudice
carried so far, that a peasant, who had plenty of waste ground to choose
out of, pitched upon the most stony part he could find to sow it with
rye. The same prejudices formerly existed in Scotland. But the
fields in that country have been cleared of stones, and the crops, instead
of failing, as was predicted by some, continue rather to improve.
The fields in Sweden are in general very dirty, and abound with
thistles and other weeds o f the very worst kind. This is most strikingly
the case in West Gothland, where agriculture is at a lower ebb
than in any other part of Sweden that I visited. The different kinds
of grain are so much mixed together in alternate ridges, that a regular
rotation of crops, or any thing like systematic farming, is quite impossible.
When the corn is ripe it is all cut down with the scythe, tied up in
very small sheaves, which are set up on end in long rows, and when
sufficiently dry they are drawn home, and not put up in stacks out of
doors, as in this country, but all lodged in houses. The common way
of thrashing it out is by means of a flail, very unlike that which is
used in this country. It consists of two pieces of wood, about the
size and length o f walking sticks, tied together by means o f a leather
thong, so loosely, that when one is held in the hand the other may be
twirled round the head with great facility. To the end of that stick
which is destined to strike the corn there is fixed a thick oblong piece
of wood, about four inches long. It is this piece o f wood alone which
is made to strike the corn and thrash out the grain. The thrashing is
as often performed by women and boys as by men. The flail is made
to strike the com with great rapidity, but the blows are light and have
but little effect The Swedes also possess thrashing mills, and they
affirm that they possessed them before they were introduced into Britain.
How far this claim is well founded I had no means of ascertaining.
But I went and saw a thrashing mill which belonged to the
Chevalier Edelcranz, near Stockholm, a nobleman possessed o f a great
deal o f mechanical knowledge, and uncommonly accomplished in every
respect, This mill was exactly on the same principle as the thrashing
mills which are now almost universal in the south o f Scotland.
The Swedes are greatly deficient in an indispensable requisite for
good farming; I mean the number o f cattle which they possess. I
was greatly astonished to find the number o f black cattle and sheep so
small in Sweden. I never any where saw a greater number than 20
cattle together in one place, and never so many at once as 50 sheep.
The sheep are uncommonly small, somewhat similar to our Welch
breed; but the mutton is good, and the wool not bad. They are uncommonly
tame, considering the thinness of the country in point of
population, and the state o f comparative wildness in which they appear
to live. This tameness must be owing to the severity o f the
Swedish winters, when they must depend entirely for their food upon
the provident hand o f man. The smallness of the number of cattle
must deprive the farmers of the requisite quantity of manure, without
which farming to advantage is quite out o f the question.
That our readers may have an accurate conception of the number of