Page Eighteen
AGRICULTURE IN
SWEDEN
By G. LEUFVEN, Director of Sweden’s General Agricultural Society
ARMING in Sweden is of a very culture Swedish farmers are indebted for
heterogeneous description on account cereals of higher yield and greater
of the great variations in both climatic resistibility.
conditions and the character of the soil.
The name Svalov is known all over
In the southern provinces the farming the world and the new Svalov varieties
is of the . most up-to-date kind, the of wheat, rye, oats, barley and peas have
principal products cultivated being wheat, gained a good footing in many places
barley and sugar beet. Both in regard outside of Sweden.
to cultivation and yield of the soil the
Another seed improvement association
district in question compares favorably is that at Weibullsholm, where especially
with the best agricultural sections in high-yield root varieties have been
other parts of Europe. In the central part developed by prominent scientists. The
of Sweden the raising of grain and fodder Brand “Weibull” is likewise a well known
is of about equal importance with foresty one in many countries.
as an important side issue of the farm
The new varieties introduced by the
ing. In the northern districts, on the
other hand, the chief source of income is institutions in question are used in all
forestry, while farming is mostly con parts of Sweden, and have done much
fined to the raising of fodder for the to augment the crops. Thus, for example,
farm livestock and, where feasible, grain the average yield in Malmohus Lan of
Scania was in 1921 for wheat 3,320 kg.,
for domestic use.
rye 2,500 kg., barley 2,070 kg., oats
In 1920 the area of cultivated soil was 2,070 kg., peas 1,470 kg., sugar beet
3,794,711 hectares, fruit and vegetable 32,500 kg. and fodder beet 41,440 kg. per
gardens covered 50,175 hectares, natural hectare.
meadow 928,539 hectares, forest 24,547,-
876 hectares, unproductive soil—moun CATTLE AND OTHER LIVESTOCK
tains, moors, etc.—11,735,572 hectares.
Swedish breeding animals were well
The cultivated soil was in 1919 appor known abroad even before the war. They
tioned to the following crops, viz. wheat have been introduced especially into the
140,903 ha., rye 372,169 ha., barley Baltic countries, where they are highly
166,847 ha., oats 712,902 ha., mixed grain appreciated for their strong constitution,
260,767 ha., vetches, peas, beans etc. high productive capacity and ability to
44,774 ha., potatoes 163,634 ha., sugar transmit their good qualities to their
beet 36,639 ha., other roots 91,060 ha., offspring.
green fodder 11,978 ha., clover 1,342,851
Breeding of domestic farm animals in
ha., other corps 14,729 ha., with 294,000 Sweden has during the last forty years
ha., lying fallow.
been stimulated and promoted by the
The number of livestock on farms was granting of bonuses and keeping of
in 1919, horses 715,000, cattle 2,550,000, official pedigree books, and the productive
sheep and goats 1,696,000, pigs 716,000, capacity has been augmented by Control
Associations and competitions.
The
poultry 4,871,000.
Swedish agriculture produces a suf physical condition of the animals is very
ficient quantity of all animal foodstuffs good and the great majority of the breeds
for the requirements of the population, are completely free from tuberculosis.
In south and central Sweden there are
and there is besides an excess of butter,
meat, pork and eggs available for export. in the main only two breeds of cattle
Enough cereals for domestic consumption in evidence, viz. black-and-white and a
are also raised, except wheat, of which red-and-white breed.
The black-and-white Dutch breed
about 40 per cent must be covered by
originated in Holland and East-Frisia,
importation.
The distribution of the soil as regards and is in Sweden mainly to be found in
ownership is exceptionally favorable. Of the sugar beet districts of Scania. The
428,126 farms only 2,576 consist of yearly milk production according to the
estates with a greater area under cultiva books of the Control Associations is on
tion than 100 ha. each, which is merely an average 5,000 kg. with a fat content
0.5 per cent of the whole number; 5.430 of 3.5 per cent for cows belonging to
farms have 50—100 ha., 91,247 10-—50 pure-breed herds. Thanks to rationally
ha., and 328,873 farms have less than conducted work in this direction the fat
10 ha. tilled fields. Only 100,000 farms content has gradually been increased,
of the total number are held on lease and many cows furnish milk with a fat
hold terms; the remainder are owned content of up to 4 per cent. Annual
by the users. Sweden is thus dis milking results of up to 9,000 and 10,000
tinctively a land of small farmers and kg. are also on record. However, very
little attention is paid to attaining record
has been for many centuries.
figures, the aim being instead to
IMPROVEMENT OF THE CROPS
establish a good, uniform productivity
An institution that has been of the extending over many years. The live
greatest importance for the development weight of a full-grown cow is 600 kg.
of the cereal production and other The color is black and white, with white
branches of agriculture is the Seed Im legs. For the last thirty years no
provement Farm and Laboratories of animals with black spots at the hoofs
Svalov established in 1886. It has been have been awarded prizes.
The red-and-white breed is to be found
conducted by Professors N. Hjalmar
Nilsson and H. Nilsson-Ehle, to whose in all parts of central Sweden outside
revolutionary work in the service of agri of the real plaips. One distinguishes two
F
AUGUST 1925
THE UNITED AMERICAN
very similar varieties of this breed, viz.
the Swedish Ayrshire breed and the
Swedish red-and-white cattle.
Both
are bred on Swedish soil and are
excellently adapted to the Northern
climate and small farms, where not too
great demands are made on the qaul'ty
of the soil and up-tordate farming
methods. The two breeds have in the
main the same characteristics in regard
to coloring size and type, and sugges
tions have been made recently to classify
this cattle as one breed. The milking
capacity is on an average per year and
cow belonging to good, pure-breed herds
4,000 kg. of milk with a fat content of
4 per cent. Live weight of the cows
550 kg.
The breeding of pigs is highly
developed in Sweden thanks to the
incentive furnished by the export of pork
to Great Britain. The breed most in
evidence is the Yorkshire, of which many
prominent establishments exist, a cha
racteristic one being that at Svalov. In
addition may be mentioned several
establishments of pigs of improved
Swedish farm breed, used to good advan
tage for crossing with Yorkshires to
increase the pork production.
Sheep rearing is confined to Oxford
down, Shropshire, Cheviot and other
sheep kept for meat production. Sheep
rearing has declined during the last
decades but the remaining herds are of
fine quality.
Horse breeding is very popular. Three
breeds of horses have received the special
attention of Swedish breeders, viz. a
light-weight, warm-blooded breed chiefly
intended for army remounts and carriage
horses, Swedish Belgian horses, in
Sweden called the Ardennes horse, used
for the large farms and estates in south
and central Sweden, and North-Swedish
horses for the forest and mountain
districts of the North of Sweden.
The Ardennes horse has been raised
in Sweden for the last fifty years, and
has been widely adopted, so that Sweden
is the country outside Belgian itself that
has the largest number of Belgian horses.
The Swedish Ardennes is a mountain
horse, middling heavy, hard, dry and
lively, and is for these qualities very
popular in several countries outside of
Sweden, notably Germany and the Baltic
countries.
The North-Swedish horse is a purely
Swedish animal improved by selective
breeding. It is splendidly suited for forest
areas, because it works as well on the
rough forest trails as in the field. It is
persevering, quick, unpretentious in
regard to fodder and stabling, and is
consequently very popular with the small
farmers in those parts.
Swedish warm-blooded horses are
chiefly of Hanoverian extraction or de
scended from English full-blood stallions.
They are high-bred and furnish all the
remounts of the army. Other countries
also obtain remounts in Sweden. Skàne
is the center for the breeding of this
type of horse.
A Family
(summoned
“If I’m sent
war will be
Affair—Willesden Husband
for maintenance arrears):
to prison for this, the next
between me and my wife."