Northern Husbandry

The hay was stacked in a 1000 stacks but not one of them contained more than a horse could pull there at one go. They never use 2 horses for draught work, nor do they use oxen. The stacks were on raised platforms. ‘Iris aquatica’ [Yellow Iris] was also growing here.

They do not have a swingletree in the harness; there is, instead, a curved frame round it which both supports it and holds it away from the horse.

20th. I saw milk-sieves in which the aperture was stuffed with straw.

BRAHESTAD, a small town, twice as big as Torneå, peninsula, situated right on the shore.

There are various lunatics in the asylum at KRONOBY, some of them insane with jealousy about their wives. One, with an utterly ancient wife, even imagined he could see her going with another man. Perhaps impotence or possibly intercourse in his imagination could be the cause of this?

They use train-oil in childbirth around here. It comes from seals that are killed in the spring but left lying out on the broken ice. These are finally washed ashore and the rotten carcasses found. The train-oil is collected but, since it is so stinking, it is only used by common people and for cows.

In general, however, beaver castor is a blessed and much tested panacea used to bring on labour pains in women in childbirth, though some people use saffron in hot wine.

Against the after-pains they use a few drops of blood from the umbelical cord whether it is a first birth or a later birth.

I was informed that Finns who want to put a spell on a bear take bear droppings (while still warm if possible) and mix them with the droppings of a cow in heat, which makes the bear lust for her. This seems to me no stranger than most sympathetic magic.

“Muiku”, a fish in lakes near Pyhäjoki. Bishop Terserus, Bishop of Åbo but from Dalama, says that he has seen a fish called “muiku” here and that it is identical with the “blickta” in Lake Siljan. I do not know whether it is identical with the Siljan “blickta” but what I do know is that it is a powan and absolutely identical with the small powan of Småland and Stenbrohult.

21st. Went to church at OLD KARLEBY on Apostles’ Day and was also present at an installation at the school. Stayed the night in Kronoby.

22nd. Travelled past JAKOBSTAD and arrived in the evening at NEW KARLEBY, almost as big as Växjö. All the streets are paved with logs instead of with stones. They are laid crosswise like a bridge, which looks pretty. Jakobstad has an unusual harbour in that loading can be carried out direct from the quay.

The harbour at New Karleby is on the river 1 1/2 miles from the town; vessels can hardly approach closer than 3 1/2 miles from the town when laden, however.

There was a great deal of timber lying on the shore waiting to be transported to Stockholm.

At all the mills the farmers have mincers with 6 or 7 blades for chopping up the chaff in a trough. This is then ground in with the barley.

Turnip-tops are dried ready for winter, when they are boiled and given to the cattle to drink.