Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Second part - VI. Agriculture and Cattle-Breeding - 4. Public and Private Institutions to the Advancement of Agriculture - The Sowing-seed question, by Prof. N. Hj. Nilsson, Ph. D., Svalöf - The Swedish Moor-Association, by Captain V. Nauckhoff, Stockholm
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606
VI. AGRICDLTURE AND CATTLE-BREEDING OF SWEDEN.
the whole of Sweden; since 1891, it has enjoyed a State subsidy of 15,000 kronor
per annum, and about as much from the Agricultural Societies in Sweden jointly.
In 1894, this society received into its organization a similar society formed at
Örebro in 1889 for Central Sweden, and since that time it represents alone the
work of improvement of agricultural plants in Sweden. A large branch for
Central Sweden has, however, been established at Ultuna. The Society now consists
of 750 members, and the total annual income is about 52,000 kronor.
The Swedish Seed Breeding Association (Sveriges Utsädesförening) has the
same object in view as referred to above, but, on account of the very experiences
gained, aims at attaining this object primarily by means of an essential improvement
of the plant-culture of Swedish farming, brought about by a systematic raising
of new and better sorts than those hitherto existing. The untiring labours of this
society since 1886 are now annually producing results which indisputably show that
the right course has been entered upon and that it is really possible to attain
the high aim in view. Its principal establishment, at Svalöf in Skåne, is already
widely known both in and out of Europe, and is annually visited by numerous
foreign students, and its new sorts of seeds are, moreover, widely cultivated in
Sweden and also beginning to attract the special attention of other countries.
This decided success, quite unexpected in a country situated so far north
and so little favoured by nature, is in the first instance to be explained from the
fact that this is actually the first time that an establishment fully equipped with
the resources of science has been founded exclusively for the purpose of
improving the plants cultivated in agriculture. In this respect, the institution at Svalöf
is still alone of its kind in the world.
Hitherto the work has been prosecuted as regards wheat, barley, rye, and
oats, peas and vetches, and large assortments of entirely new varieties of each
have been raised, only a few of which, however, after most careful trial, have been
brought into the market. In regard to the method of working, it may suffice
to state that it has gradually developed into pure applied botany; however, in
the treatment of the material in the field, adhering more closely and directly
than any former method to the culture at large.
In connection with the experimental establishment of the society, there is i
business undertaking under its control, viz., the General Swedish Sowing-seed
Company, Limited (Allmänna Svenska Utsädesaktiebolaget), which receives,
purifies by cultivation, and introduces into the market the new sorts produced by the
establishment. Both establishments are, for the rest, entirely separate, each with
its own financial management and staff of employers, estates, buildings, etc. There
is at Svalöf an area of over 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of excellent soil at their
joint disposal for operations and –elite cultures».
The Swedish Moor-Association.
In 1886, at the initiative of Director Carl von Feilitzen (1840/1901), »
Society of the above description was founded for Central and Southern Sweden, but
in 1888 its boundaries were extended so as to comprise the whole country, under
the name of i Svenska Mosskulturföreningen». The purpose of the Society is to
further the cultivation of the moors, which is especially important in our country,
and by lectures, meetings, experiments, publications and other suitable means to
spread information concerning the cultivation of moorland, and the use of moss-litter
and peat for industrial purposes. The area of such moor and turf land amounts
in Sweden to 5,200,000 hectares (nearly 13 million acres), or about 12’6 percent
of the whole land area of the country, which will clearly show the importance of
the Society and its field of labour.
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