sugar

Snap (almost)! And please do not be offended by the description of a "mound of swedes" - we had quite an argument as to what these vegetables are called... :)

National Library of Ireland on The Commons Ha, ha, no offence taken! Actually I thought about that word myself when describing the image in English - but for obvious reasons I found another description (correct for this kind of root vegetable). Thanks for showing us your Irish swedes! :) /Anna B.

Swedish National Heritage Board - Riksantikvarieämbetet Any time! :D

Swedish National Heritage Board - Riksantikvarieämbetet I wonder if this really is sugar beet, which typically has a more tapered appearance. Lovely image though, and a perfect counterpart to the one from National Library of Ireland on The Commons

Photos of the Past Yes, the two images really make a good match! :) Actually, I doubted a little about sugar beets too when uploading the image... Today, however, I found a Swedish web site describing the (no longer operative since 1989) sugar beet factory of Karpalund outside Kristianstad in the province of Skåne. The web site shows a photo with almost exactly the same motif and the same kind of cart as in the photo we show here. (The date fits in as well.)

It would be great if we could get an opinion from someone with good knowledge about this root crop, so common in southern Sweden since the end of the 19th century.

/Anna B.

Probably were under instruction to keep still for a minute or so.

Now those two ladies look suspiciously like mother and daughter, so could this be the propietor's family posing for an all-important publicity post-card? Sunday clothes, mother to anwer to if they don't get it right..... it's no wonder the poor things look wooden. And, Oh I do hope father didn't step on his nice new billy-cock hat when he got up!

Well, I guess Michiel2005 is right, posing for a while didn't exactly make for spontaneous snapshots, but maybe you're right too Jack Falstaff. Maybe they weren't resting tourists! And thanks for billycock! Didn't know that was what these hats were called. Apparently also bombín in Spanish speaking parts...

You're welcome, Carol. It was also known as a Derby in the USA, but more generally in the UK (when Jack was a lad, which is a long time ago) as a Bowler (after the name of the original makers) and,much more rarely if memory serves, as a Coke Hat (because it was created in the mid-nineteenth century for Edward Coke, brother of the Earl of Leicester).

Charming scene would be great foe a publicity shot.

Remarkable how baking equipment hasn't changed. I guess one of mankinds earliest technologies.

1000s of generations thinking if a design ain't broke, don't fix it!

I think this was the cake shop in Waterford that people used to call Susie tarts!

desmondg47 Was Susie a person? Or were Susie tarts a type of cake/pastry?

Susie was a person, the owner of the shop,