Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II. The Agricultural Classes
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
peasant farmer with whom they lived could only employ
them for a small part of the year, and they passed the
long winter sleeping by the fire or elsewhere. Even
to-day, people of this class seldom have beds. In those
days even their clothes did not always belong to them.
In modern times they are better off, because there is
more work to do, but the winters are still a great
difficulty.
In addition to their tenants who pay rent in labour,
many of the bönder employ ordinary hired labourers,
chiefly to drive their teams of horses. Some of these
(the “drängar”) have their meals on the farm, others
(the “statkarlar”) are paid in kind and are also provided
with pasture for a cow. Even more elaborate arrangements
are made with the “spanmåls-karlar” (“grain-workers”),
who, besides being paid in grain, receive a
piece of land for their own use, and are, therefore,
granted certain days on which to work for themselves.
A farm-hand, in the wealthier districts, can now earn
from six to seven hundred marks a year, a temporary
labourer 2½ marks a day in summer, or 1.75 marks in
winter; a woman, 1.30 marks in summer and 1 in
winter; and a man with a cart and horse, 4.60 marks
in summer and 3.20 in winter.
On Åland and the numberless other islands situated
in the south-west and on the southern coast, as well
as on parts of the Bothnian coast, we find the same
three classes as on the mainland: the middle-class,
the cottagers with land sufficient for cows and sheep,
and finally a class without property and reduced to
work for others. These islands, like the Finnish
mainland, are extremely beautiful, clothed with more
luxurious vegetation than the mainland, covered with
different kinds of trees, and the soil sometimes
mixed with marl, though in large parts the islands
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
