NOTES ON NORWEGIAN INDUSTRY 



37 



Fig. 1. Norwegian Uplands in Summer. Snow fences ou the 

 Bergen-Kristiania railroad. 



hjem and Stavanger are the only other cities with more than 25,000 

 inhabitants, and only eight more have over 10,000. 



Farming and grazing have always been the chief industries of Nor- 

 way and at present more than half the population are so engaged. In 

 the south, where the valleys are broader, general farming is practised, 

 but in the north the life of the farmer is hard. Here the only crops 

 are potatoes and barley, and these are cultivated in the bits of soil oil 

 the rocky mountain sides, even far north of the Arctic circle, indeed, it 

 is said that the best potatoes are raised on Ando, one of the Vesteraalen 

 Islands, at latitude 69°. Cattle are pastured in summer as far up the 

 mountains as grass can he found, while every wisp of hay is gathered 

 for winter use, not only on the lower levels, but among rocks and on 

 slopes so steep that cattle could not find a foothold. Most of the calves 

 are shipped, as comparatively few can be carried through the winter on 

 the meager sustenance. Sheep and goats are raised but in small 

 numbers. 



Next to farming the chief industry of Norway is fishing, and in 

 winter all the farmers living on the fjords become fishermen. The 

 great center of the fishing industry is the Lofoten Islands, on the west 

 coast, north of the Arctic circle. Here in winter and early spring as- 

 semble upwards of 40,000 fishermen from all of the fjords of western 

 Norway, even from below Bergen. The fishing is chiefly in Vest-fjord, 

 the broad, open body of water between the Lofotens and the mainland, 

 for here the cod swarm in immense numbers. The fishermen scatter 



