that the weaving mills have considerably increased their output, especially
of pattern fabrics and stuffs of better quality.
The exports of textile manufactures go principally to Norway. After
the revocation, in 1897, of the Special Commercial Treaty (mellanriksla-
gen) between Sweden and Norway it has considerably diminished —
though not in the proportion shown by Table 78. As we shall several times
have occasion to remind our readers, the Swedish figures for the exports
to Norway are, in fact, very incomplete and especially so after 1897.
The Swedes have, from time immemorial, displayed considerable liking and
natural taste for the textile arts. But even though Swedish native textile art
goes back to remote ages, and the textile manufacturing industry to the days of
Gustavus II Adolphus, nevertheless, this manufacture was always intended primarily
to supply the actual necessities of the country. One consequence of this is that
the fabrics produced in this branch of industry are generally of a simpler sort,
suitable for use by the people at large. The home market is not extensive
enough to repay the expense connected with the manufacture of new or special
products. And if the native manufacturer is, with any hope of success, to compete
with the foreigner who is flooding the Swedish market with his products,
he must avoid embarking on this too precarious venture, but confine himself to
the simpler and cheaper goods already known to his customers.
There has been a remarkable change in this respect, however, during the
last few years, more attention having been devoted to the manufacture of the
better qualities of cloth.
The first place in the textile industry of Sweden — chiefly, however, in the
cotton-industry — is occupied by the Lan of Alvsborg, with a manufacture-
value of about one-fourth of that of the entire country, the town of Boras
and the neighbourhood being the centre of the business. The chief seat of the
Swedish woollen industry, on the other hand, is in Ostergotland Lan, the principal
centre being Norrkoping.
For promoting skill "in the textile industry, there are two Weaving schools,
originally started by private persons, viz., John Lenning’s Weaving School at
Norrkoping, and the Boras Technical Weaving School. The former was founded
in 1879, by means of a donation of 300 000 kronor by a manufacturer, named
John Lenning. This school has a higher course for training manufacturers, foremen,
designers, etc., and a lower one (chiefly with evening lectures) for workmen and apprentices
in the trade. The weaving school in Boras was originally a private
establishment founded by a teacher of weaving, named S. F. Krebs, but, in 1866,
at the suggestion of the Board of the Boras Technical School, it became a public
institution, and, at the present time, receives a grant from thq State of 4 800
kronor per annum and 2 900 kronor annually from the Alvsborg Lan County
Council. — Besides these, there are, in other parts of the country, a large
number of weaving-schools for promoting domestic industry amongst which may
be especially mentioned the Weaving School of the society called “Friends of
Art Needle-work” in Stockholm; the Tullgam Weaving School, established and
supported by H. M., the Queen; Miss N. v. Engestrom’s School in Örebro;
Johanna Brunsson’s Practical Art Weaving School in Stockholm; Thora Kulle’s
in Lund, etc.
Woollen Industry.
The real improvement in Sweden’s native breed of sheep did not begin
until after 1715, when Jonas Alstrdmer, rightly called “the father of
Swedish industries”, began his experiments in naturalizing foreign breeds
of fine-wolled sheed, particularly the Spanish merinos.
These experiments apparently succeeded in the beginning, so that in 1764
there were in Sweden no less than 89 000 sheep of a pure, and 23 000 of a
mixed merino breed. Great efforts were made by the Government to increase
the stock of fine-woolled sheep. Prizes were given for wool; sheep-breedmg
farms were established; the so-called “Wool Discount” was introduced for granting
loans to tradesmen in a small way of business for the purchase of native wool; m
addition to which, woohstores and wool-markets were established to facilitate its sale.
Notwithstanding all these efforts, this breed of sheep has declined more and more,
and at present hardly numbers 1 000. Several causes have contributed to this
state of things, especially the difficulty in disposing of native merino wool to
the manufacturers, who preferred the foreign kind as' the former was very
unequal in quality. The thoroughbreds imported at different times are also said
not always to have been of the best race. Attempts to naturalize fme-woolled
Angora goats turned out even a greater failure.
During the wbole of this time the Alstromer period — attention had
been exclusivelj directed to the production in this country of fvne wool or merino
wool. When, however, after nearly a century of incessant attempts to promote
the use of native wool in Swedish mills, these efforts had proved uns™2-
cessful, then people began to see that even the coarser wool might be worth
attention. I , . . ,,
The next phase in the history of Swedish wool production, beginning with the
nineteenth century, thus gave a new direction to this industry. Instead of, as before
chiefly regarding the fineness or quality of the wool, stress was now laid
on increasing the quantity of coarse kinds of wool. And these attempts, in
spite of many unfavourable circumstances, have proved profitable. Besides the
unimproved, Swedish country sheep fa- the so-called peasant breed the wool
of which is uneven and somewhat coarse, chiefly suited for coarse textures (home-
spun or rough clothing), there are at present the following breeds, mostly
imported from England, viz., Southdown, Shropshiredown, and Oxfordshiredown
(especially in Sodermanland, Skane, and Halland); further, Leicester, Dishley,
and Cheviot — the latter especially in' Gottland and Norrbotten, and, finally,
the merino breeds (Ostergotland, Sodermanland). According to later observations
it seems as if the Cheviot breed would still further increase in Gottland —
where, apart from other favourable circumstances, its propagation has been encouraged
by the operations of the old Roma State sheep-farm — and also as if the
long-haired breeds (Oxfordshiredown etc.) would steadily increase and supplant the
white-faced ones (Leicester, Cotsewold, etc.). Among native breeds, the Gottland
sheep on the island of Faron have begun to attract notice, as a breed in many
respects suited to Sweden. One circumstance which speaks for the improvement
of the native breed by crossing with English and not merino sheep is that the
latter do not make good mutton.
The stock of native sheep, has nevertheless decreased more and more. Whilst
in 1870 it amounted to 1 600 000 there are now only about 900 000, of which
more than 100 000 in the Lan of Jonkoping. The cause of this decline must be
sought for partly in the circumstances that the native wool, from its unevenness
and the difficulty in obtaining it in larger parcels, is not readily bought by
manufacturers, and that the wool-market is flooded with foreign and artificial wool
(shoddy, mungo, extract, etc.), and partly in the circumstance that the farmers
have inclosed larger spaces for dairy purposes, in addition to which, the lack
of fodder, which often occurs in certain parts of the kingdom, results in the
slaughtering of the sheep. For the encouragement of -the breeding of native