The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-27
THE MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER.

barns and little log cabins. Many of the log cabins are built with the logs perpen-
 dicular instead of horizontal, as with us
 Some such houses are tiled instead oi
 shingled.
 Sweden has now about 1000 miles of rail.
 roads, 2,0c0 of which are owned by the
 government. The railroaGs make money and pay dividends, notwithstanding that their fares are lower than ours All trains have three classes first second and third. The first class rate is 21k cents a mile, the second class about 1h cents and the third class only # a cent. The first class is luxurious. the second is com. fortable and the third is furnished with
 bare wooden benches.
 There is much travel, especially on the trunk lines--to Christiania and Gothen berg. the chief port of Sweden on the North sea.
 The latter line is through a more thick ly populated country than that to Chris | tiania. As one goes south the farms are
 larger, the farm houses are of frame and there big barns and outbuildings. The country looks very much like the good
 farming regions of the United States
 The houses are on the farms and not in villages, as in other parts of Europe There are many cattle and dairy estab- | lishments which make the butter for ex- port. I am told that the people ship their butter abroad and use oleomargarine | themselves This is so in Denmark and in other butter-making countries. Swedish Farms.
 | am surprised at the small extent oi | farmland in Sweden in comparison with l the number of farms. There are alto gether 3SS000 agricultural holdings, and oi these fully one-fourth are under five | acres, and 100000 range from five to fifty
 acres in size. of the whole area of Swe den less than nine acres in every hun
 dred are cultivated and less than pei l cent is good pasture land. The land law
 are such that a farm is divided among thu children upon the death of the owner l thus causing numerous small holdings 1 Of late years there has been some at | tempt at consolidation. and one now find some large farms in parts of the coun | try.
 l. As far as can see, the soil is rich. l | is black and 1t raises big crops of clove | and oats. Wheat, rye and potatoes ar' grown. There Is plenty of hay, but there l Is so much rain that the hay is often pu up on racks to dry and then stored away in barns Every haycock has stick fl
 1t to give 1t air, and in some places the
 hay is dried on wire fences likes clothe: Everything looks thrifty. There art many red wooden houses with white shut
 ters and trimmings, and along the railroad are fences of rocks. boards or rails. sweden's Chief Seaport. I took a run over to Gothenberg las week. It is Swedens chief seaport, hay ing ships from all parts of Europe and the United States. It is also the terminus oi the Gotha canal, which goes right through Sweden. crossing Lakes Wennern ana Wettern. the two largest lakes in tht country Gothenberg has almost 10000 in
 habitante. and it grows like one of oul big towns of the west. It is manufac turing center, making iron, steel ant machinery, as well as sugar and beer l It has cotton factories, and also shipbuild | ing works. It has many fine stores, ant 1 in them much American goods. The towl is perhaps the most enterprising in Swe den, and in many respects 1t surpasse | Stockholm.
 The Gotha Canal.
 On this trip across Sweden visited tn l Gotha canal. stopping at Trollhattan | where the wonderful falls are. and exam thing the locks by which the ships ar
 raised and lowered to and from Lax Wennern. The canal has been cut abou l the falls, being blasted out of rocks, mak