NORSKE FARMS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1522, 12 March 1886, Page 4

NORSKE FARMS.

Tbe first impression of an ordinary Norwegian farm-steading is not very favourable. A cluster of houses, small and aged, crowd around a larger which generally louks somewhat «lilapidai« d But this appearance is deeep'ive ; for the walls being of wood, tl ey lo< k o'd in a few J ears, and become b!otched and *e*ieJ y tbe weather. The rovf is of the same material, or, in the case of the principle buiMing, either of red tile or ■lab. Sometimes the dwelling-house IB painted white, when tbe ill', ct is to renVve the sombre tspect of the group. The walls are usually stout and thoroughly weather-proof, planks about four inch* s thick bring used in their const ruction. These planksaie placed edgew se on one another, crossed and counter-sunk at the angles, and caulked in the seams with dry mess. A skin of thin wood is placed over the outside, while the interior is lined smoothly with boards. Inside there is an air of comfort and cleanliness. A table stands in tbe centre of tbe cbiet room ; and along the wall a bench runs, which serves for chain-, of which there is usually a deficiency. From pots on tbe floor ivy is sometimes trained upwards to tbe roof, giving tbe room a festive and refreshing look. Not unfttauently tbe worthy farmer if proud |o bits the dieuei of an daughter!

hang in conspicuous pontions, in order that swains who call may see that the damsels are well provided with garments in cave of a matrimonial alliance The cowhousrs are generally an improvement on those usually seen in England and Scot lard. The building is larger, and more space allotted to to each animal ; while a clean wooden floor is ordinarily beneath the cattle. Little or no bedding is given. The level of the cowhouse is in most cases raised high enoutrh to allow of a space beneath, into which the refuse is regularly swept through an opening in the floor. Outpidc the buildings, one is apt to n>k, But where is the farm ? Look about, you. Mountains hem us in on all sid»-8 ; there is no room for fields a° w( * know them at home ; but grs r « • ■•»•••■ luxuriantly among tie rocks, with o' casioually a patch as large as an ordinary villa garden. There the farmer cuts a portion of his hay crop, on which his horses and cattle are mainly dependent during the winter months. But his hayfield is yet winter spread. Glance upward some fifteen hundred feet there, where an opening occurs in the dwarf birch, and you will observe the diminished form of a man busy at work. That is the farmer, a thorough mountaineer, cutting the grass which grows on yonder narrow ledge of rock. He has been up since early morn, and will probably not descend till evening. Not a tuft ot grass will be left unfathered; not a foot of level ground on that steep and rugged mountain side but will be visited, and its small crop carefully removed by the industrious bergsman. If he has a wide stretch of field (hill pasture or moorland) in his boundary, the farmer erects wooden sheds, in which he stores his hay till winter, when, by an ingenious contrivance, he haß the whole rapidly and easily conveyed to the valley. A familiar object in a Norwegian glen is the strong steel wire which stretches from the foot to the I summit of the mountain. Down this wire the bundles of bay areexpeditiou«ly sent without labour, ar.dthen carried in sledges to the steadings, Without such a method, many weary journeys would be necessary ere the hay required for a long winter could be j brought down. It appears the Norwegian farmer berrowed the idea of thn [ hay telegraph from bis brother hille- j cen of the Tyrol about eight years ago. The hay crop is the product of natural grass, no seed b«ing sown, nor j any admixture of clover being used.— j Chambers's Journal.