I I I . RURAL' HUSBANDRY.
Potato-crop; yearly averages.
■ 1901—10. '
, ■ k
14 797 000 quintals.
1841—60.
1801—20.
1125 000 quintals.
8 000 000 quintals.
more than 50 % greater — and as in Sweden itself the harvest does not decrease
with the higher latitude in which the potato is grown, nor with the decreasing
fertility of the soil. For a long time certain districts in Northern Sweden, Jamt-
land and . the Lans of Gavleborg and Kopparberg, had the best potato-harvests, and,
if of late years the Skane Lans have reached equally high or even higher figures
(see Table 23), this depends chiefly, as before mentioned, on the introductioh|fof
new varieties and the improved manuring. The high harvest-figures in the parts
of Northern Sweden just mentioned aré probably partly due to the fact that the
soil in these regions, with their small parcels of land, receives more careful attention,
resembling actual kitchen-gardening, together with the extended use of stable-
manure. Another reason is that the devastating diseases which often reduce the
yield of the potato-crop in the southern part of the country seldom occur in the
north of Sweden. . ■
During the period 1901—10, there were harvested in Sweden a yearly average
of 14 797 000 quintals of potatoes (if a hectoliter is taken as weighing 70lEg).
Taken per head of the population, this corresponds to 279 kg, a figure which
is little below the average for Western Europe, which was 310 kg. If from
this we subtract the seed-tubers, which are given at about 18 hi, or 1 260 kg
per hectare, the annual amount of the harvest that, in Sweden, remained available
for consumption, was, during the period above mentioned, about 243 kg pr
head of the population. About 1 million quintals are used annually by the
distilleries.
The consumption of potatoes, chiefly as human food but also for the manufacture
of spirits, and, in a lesser degree, as food for cattle, pigs especially,lias,
from about 35 liters, or a weight of about 25 kg per inhabitant, at the beginning
of the 19th century, risen to about 1 0 . times this amount at the close of
this period. For a long time the consumption was in proportion to the harvest,
so that there , were no noteworthy imports or exports, but, since the lattfef part
of the nineties, a change has taken place in this respect, and there has been an
excess of imports, to an annual average of about 200 000 quintals.
Apart from this, however, potatoes, in consequence of their great bulk,; are,
far less than grain, the object of transport and trade between different countries
and districts, and, as a rule, the demand for potatoes in Sweden _ is supplied
by local cultivation. The cultivation of potatoes, therefore, is very evenly
distributed throughout the country and, as a rule, embraces about 30 hectares
of land per 1 000 inhabitants. Its share of the cultivated land, which,
ROOT-CROPS. 69
on an average for the whole country, amounts to something more than 4 %,
l i s subject to somewhat great variations, and is higher in the less cultivated
I parts of the country and in those districts where small farming predominates,
I but. is less on the extensive ' farms on the plains, whose clayey soils, too,
I are less suitable for the cultivation of potatoes than the light earth of the forest I districts. A large proportion of the cultivated ground too, is, devoted to the
1 cultivation of the potato in those districts where the manufacture .of spirits is
I carried on on a large scale, such as in the Lans of Kristianstad, Blekinge, Jon-
I koping, Kronoberg, and Skaraborg.
The varieties of potatoes cultivated differ greatly both in appearance and
I in taste. In Northern Sweden there have, as a rule, been retained the old-
I fashioned, ordinary round sorts with yellow flesh and rich crops, whose
I slight power of resistance against disease is of little importance in the districts
mentioned, where potato-disease very seldom occurs; the character of this potato,
I however, does not make-it suitable for cultivation in more southerly tracts. In
I the southern and central parts of the country, on the other hand, the old sorts
I of potatoes have been supplanted by newer and more productive varieties, which, in
I most, cases, possess greater powers of resistance to disease; these varieties have
I been, introduced from North America, England, and, of late, especially from Ger-
Imany. Among the varieties now more commonly cultivated may be especially
I noticed two sorts, which have been much grown in Sweden since theseventi.es;
I. the American Early Rose” potato-, which, however, is not capable of offering
I much resistance to disease, and the white English Magnum Bonum. In addition,
there,: are also fairly generally cultivated the early, white table-potato Early
[Puritan, the medium-late Up-to-Date, which resembles the Magnum Bonum,
[and a number of productive, but coarse, German varieties, very rich in starch,
such ^ as the white Prof. Maercker, Geheimrath Thiel, Richter’s Imperator, and
[Silesia.
The cultivation of the sugar-beet, which, in Sweden, was begun as early as
| during the second decade of the 19 th century, but which cannot be said to
[have gained a firm footing in the country before the fifties, has gradually made
[great progress and, during the. last few decades, has developed enormously.
After the unsuccessful attempts which were made about 1870 to extend the
[cultivation of the sugar-beef to Central Sweden, and all beet-sugar factories north
kkane soon had to be closed again, the Swedish, sugar-beet cultivation was
llong restricted to that province, where the natural conditions necessary are
[better satisfied than anywhere else in the country. Since the beginning of the
nineties, the cultivation of the sugar-beet has once more been extended and at
the present day is carried on in Halland, Blekinge, Southern Kalmar Lan, Gland,
Ustergotland, and Vastergotland. Since the middle of the nineties, the area devoted
o the cultivation of the sugar-beet has risen from about 18 000 hectares to
nearly 30 .000 hectares in 1911, and during the same period, the crop has about
aoubied; during the years 1 9 0 1 ||1 0 , it amounted to 8 268 808 tons, or 27 ‘s
ons per hectare, figures little inferior to those for the countries which stand
I l lW I m this respect the Netherlands and Belgium. The percentage of
, as been . steadily on the increase, so that the amount of raw sugar ob-
‘k' 4 i nsen fr°m ®‘e * Per weight-unit in 1870 to 15'77 % in 1912. The
[mna which is cultivated is of the German Klein-Wanzerbener variety, the
bemg mostly obtained from Germany.
' beet additi°n t0 the considerable direct income that the cultivation of the sugar-
weeri;?VeS J farm.er’ if! also confers the advantages of a more thorough tilling,
crons ? AT m™u™lg . of ,tlle soil than other plants demand and repay by their
’ 0 tüat the cultivation of the beet prepares the way for increased and more