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AGRICULTURE.
517
The climate considerably restricts the period of cultivation the more
one comes towards the north. In the greater part of Sweden it is
considerably shorter than in Denmark and Germany, and in Northern Sweden
the labourers can be employed in farming for but four months yearly, and
must consequently have other employment for the greater part of the year.
As a general verdict upon the state of modern Swedish agriculture
it may be said, that it has adopted, to a larger or smaller extent,
almost all the inventions, both theoretical and practical, which have
been successfully tried in other countries, but that in consequence of the
great extent of the country, the differences in its soil, and the remote
situation of many districts, primitive methods and machinery are still
found side by side with even the very newest. The agriculture of
Skåne and of Southern Halland is, in general, of a very high standard,
but also in the rest of Sweden the modern farmer displays a pleasing
wakefulness. Small farmers establish societies for the purchase of
manure. Great attention is paid to seed with the help of
controlling-stations, chemical stations, and purchase-societies. Horse-rapes, reaping-,
and sowing-machines have come into use even on small farms. Steam
threshing-machines are often purchased by several farmers together and
are used by them in turn. Those farmers who have passed through an
agricultural institute or a farming-school, are usually able themselves
to carry out necessary levelings, lay out a draining-scheme, or map
out a field; they can follow, pretty nearly at least, the developments
recorded in agricultural journals and magazines, and they have
opportunities, at larger and smaller agricultural shows, to become
acquainted with the technical progress of their profession. Independent
scientific investigations are also made in many branches, in our country,
such as at the Experimental Grounds of the Academy of Agriculture, and
at the Agricultural High Schools, at the trial fields of the Fen-culture
society and of the General Swedish Sowing-seed Society; Sweden also
nowadays takes part in the foremost work of modern research, both
respecting agricultural chemistry and the bacteriological examination of
the diseases of cultivated plants.
The figures in Table 60 also bear witness, to a certain degree, of
the development of Swedish agriculture of låte years; figures which
give the total value of the imports and exports of agricultural produce,
whether derived from farming proper or from cattle-rearing. The total
values, of both imports and exports, calculated in kronor, are as follows
(a krona = l-io shilling = 0-2 68 dollar):
Averages. Imports. Exports. Exports
Years 1871/75 ..................... 46,583,000 51,477,000 + 4,894,000
> 1876/80 ..................... 59,28-2,000 55,598,000 — 3,684,000
» 1881/85 ..................... 69,367,000 55,125,000 — 14,242,000
» 1886/90 ..................... 53,883,000 58,366,000 + 4,483,000
> 1891/95 ..................... 53,227,000 66,981,000 + 13,754,000
» 1896/00 ..................... 69,167,000 53,911,000 — 15,256,000
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