and with, a production-value of about 1 1/2 million kronor), and the
Skdnska jutefabriks-aktiebolaget, Halsingborg. These manufactories have
exceedingly varied productions, comprising jute-yarn, netting yarn, mat
warp, string, rope, etc., and sacking, packing, mattress and decoration-cloth,
saddle-girths, and mats. Jute is also used in certain factories, together
with wool or cotton, for curtain- and furniture-cloths, as well as carpets.
The eight jute-factories of Sweden employ 1 560 workpeople, and the average
annual value of their production is 9 000 000 kronor.
The value of the m a n u fa c tu r e s at Swedish flax and hemp spinning-mills
was, in 1912, 3*50 million kronor, and at the weaving-mills, 4'86 millions; at the
jute spinning-mills 4 '« million kronor, and at the weaving-mills 4*80 millions.
(The calculation include overlapping, as the production figures in general.)
The im p o r ts of linen and hemp goods are, as regards quantity, shown by
Table 82. The values of the several imports were: flax, 2*28 mill, kronor;
hemp, 2*17 millions; hards, 0*60 million; jute, 2*98 million, yam and thread for
0-78 million, and flax, hemp, and jute textiles 2*22 millions; total 10*93 million
kronor. The import of linen has increased, hut not sufficiently to compensate
for the above-mentioned decline in the home production.
Certain other fibrous materials have been used for the manufacture of cloth,
although more by way of experiment. Special mention may be made of Prof.
H. v. Post’s experiments, made in the ’sixties, for the manufacture of yam and
cloth from the down of plants, i. e. seed catkins of willows and osiers (Salix),
and of aspens and poplars (Populus), especially the down of Salix pentandra.
Other vegetable down-producing species, such' as Eriophorum, Sonchus, Typha
etc., have been experimented with in Sweden, but all without practical results.
Another raw material made into home-manufactured cloth by the peasantry
in certain places, was the ordinary nettle (Urtica dioica), which was treated like
flax and produced a particularly good, strong, and long fibre. The cloth thus
produced rivalled linen in quality; it was exceedingly fine and strong and was
called “nettle-cloth”, a name that has now been transferred to certain kinds of
thin cottons.
Of late years, attempts have been made in Sweden to employ peat-fibre for
the manufacture of doth (i. e. the stalk and root fibres of certain species of
Eriophorum), either. alone or spun up together with wool. The fibre is generally
obtained as a by-product in the process of making peat-coal. Such cloth has
been manufactured at the Sahlstrom Manufactory in Jonkoping, and the yam
spun with about 40 % of fibre and 60 % of^ sheep’s wool. The cloths which
have cotton in their warp and fibre yam in their woof are fulled. This manufacture
has not, however, led to any practical Tesult, probably from want of
perfectly satisfactory fibre and the special machinery necessary for cleansing
and spinning.
Silk Industry.
The Swedish silk industry, at present of exceedingly unimportant
dimensions, should be regarded as a relic from a time when the people and
the ruling princes always regarded it as essential to a country’s welfare
to introduce and encourage every industry at any price, whether there
was any probability of its flourishing in that country or no.
As early as in the middle of the seventeenth century, there was a silk manufactory
with 50 looms in Stockholm, and in 1673 one Jurgen Enhorn, from
Hamburg, obtained leave to set up a silk manufactory in Gothenburg or Lands-
krona, where plush, velvet, and silk ribbons also might be manufactured. The
sale was bad in consequence of the import of such goods, on account of which
all introduction into the country_of such articles was forbidden in 1683, and a
special “silk-house” was established under government control, all silk stuffs
having to be furnished with its stamp and seal. The silk was brought from Persia
and other places in Asia, and also from South Europe. After the long wars o f
Charles XII, the silk trade led a languishing existence, but recovered again
under the eighteenth century’s zealous system of protection and bonuses.
In the middle of the last-named century, many attempts were made to introduce
the cultivation of the silkworm into Sweden. In 17 50, there were something
like 100 000 white mulberry trees to be seen in Lund; native silk was
actually produced in spite of the northern latitude, and the State supported the
project with bonuses and grants, in the hope that it might call into being a
new home industry. In 1830, a “Society for promoting the rearing of native
silk worms” " was established, under the patronage of the then Crown Princess
Josephine, and with illustrious men of . science, such as Berzelius, Sven Nilsson,
and many others, as members. The production of silk was, however, never
very large, possibly 10 or 12 kg per annum; and more particularly after
the yearly Government subvention of 4 000 kronor was withdrawn in 1876, it
may safely be said that the undertaking lost all significance as far as Swedish
industry was concerned. The attempts made by this Society seem, however, to
demonstrate that the so-called oak silk-worm (Bornbyx Tama-Mai), a Japanese
species, can thrive exceedingly well in Sweden. The Society ceased its operations
in 1898, after nearly 70 years’ work without practical results. The last year’s
yield (about 2 kg) was obtained at the Society’s institution at Alnarp in Skane.
Although, in 1845, there were 18 silk manufactories at work, at present
Sweden has only one, viz., K. A. A lmgren s, Stockholm. This factory (established
1834) certainly; produces excellent simple silk stuffs (taffety, gros, croise,
rep, satinet, atlas,' and a certain amount of . damask) for wearing J apparel,
kerchiefs, ribbons, and neckties. Notwithstanding the high duty on imported
■ silk _goods (6 kronor per kilogram, while the raw silk is admitted duty free),
this industry continues to decline. Silk goods are fashionable articles, and, as
such, often subject to fluctuation, and they are therefore hardly likely to be
manufactured at a profit in so small a country as Sweden. The silks o f
home manufacture probably cost 50 % more than the French, and the former
are inferior to the latter with regard to colour, though possibly somewhat superior
in durability.
Especially interesting are the attempts that have been made in Sweden to
produce the so-called artificial silk, or collodium thread. This method ■ consists
in pressing fine threads out of a gelatinized solution of cellulose (cotton, straw,
or chemical wood-pulp) through extremely fine holes in glass tubes; this
thread is in quality very much like natural silk. The inventions in this branch
of trade have not, as yet, given rise to any industry, but may be said still to
be in the experimental stage. The fabrics, which have hitherto been manufactured
of this material have consisted of natural silk in warp and cellulose
silk in woof, the latter, as regards durability, however, being considerably inferior
to the former. Such silk has also been manufactured in Sweden o f
sulphite, presumably for the first time in any country. This silk, however, becomes
yellowish and is difficult to bleach.
Sweden’s im p o r ts of pure and cotton-silk fabrics has, in yearly averages for
the five-year periods 1871— 1910 and for the year 1911, been estimated at respectively
2*78, 2*90, 3*44, 4*78, 3*16, 4*66, 4*80, 6*76, and 7*59 million kronor. Of
the sum for 1912, 3*76 m illio n s were for pure silk and 2*89 millions for cottonsilk