THK PKKSKNT STATE OF Af.RICrLTTRE IX .S\\-KDEN 925 



Labour (i). — The relative decline of the agricultural population has 

 exerted a perceptible influence not as regards the number of farmers (land- 

 owTiers and tenant farmers), but only as regards the number of labourers. 

 It imposed greater econoni}- of labour, but gave rise to no real difhculty in 

 finding the necessary labourers for agricultural work and care of livestock, 

 except in 2 cases : 



i) For the extensive sugar beet cultivatons in the south of the coun- 

 try-, emigrant labour had to be engaged, coming chiefly from Galicia and 

 Poland, to the number of i 000 to I 300 persons of both sexes. 



2) There is a permanent difficulty in finding farm hands, male and 

 female, to look after the livestock and milk the cows. 



The shortage of labour has also led to a considerable rise in wages, 

 which have increased threefold since 1870, the present yearly wage for a 

 man being 320 kroner, and for a woman 180 kroner ; the da^' wage in summer 

 {without beard or lodging) is 2.5 kroner for a man and 1.5 kroner for a wo- 

 man : these figures are the averages for the entire country. 



Wages are generally the largest item of farm expenditure, and there- 

 fore their rise, which far exceeds that of the selling price of agricultural 

 produce, has been a powerful factor in weakening the economic position of 

 agriculture. 



Hired labour formerly consisted chiefly cf farm hands, male and female, 

 hired b}' the j^ear against fixed salary- and board and lodging in the farmer's 

 house ; on rather larger farms, again, a considerable part of the work was 

 carried out by peasants who were under certain obligations of labour or 

 paj^ment, and by persons (" Torpare ", " Kothner ") to whom small holdings 

 were granted in consideration of a number of days' labour per week, with 

 the right also of doing paid labour. Great changes have taken place in 

 this respect. Farm hands of both sexes are generally quick and strong la- 

 bourers, but owing to the trouble of finding them board and the difficultv 

 of moral supervision over them, the attempt has been made to replace them 

 by married labourers (" Statare ") receiving wages and lodging; the lat- 

 ter, however, instead of being fed in the employer's kitchen, receive a given 

 quantity of the most important commodities, for instance, about 24 cwt. 

 of rye; 22 bushels of potatoes; 6 or 8 cwt. of wheat for feeding livestock 

 (pigs) per year; 5 I/3 pints of full-cream milk per day, the same quantity of 

 skim milk; wood fuel, and a piece of land for planting potatoes. 



The forced labour tribute due from certain peasants either in the form 

 of days of work or particular kinds of work, has long since been replaced 

 by payment of a tenancy rent in money ; among the " Torpare " who oc- 

 cupy the above small holdings, the tendency to pay their dues by working 

 them off has become more and more general. This form of contract is 

 extremely favourable, both to the landowners who obtain labourers at the 

 cost of the rent of patches of land of little value transferred to the latter, 

 and to the tenants who thus have their own home, while their livelihood 

 is secure, as they are always certain to find work on the owner's farm. 



(i) See In'cnii'iitnal Review of Agricultural FcuHnmic^. !"i-hni ^-^■. >TrMiii :mm1 Ajiri' ■■ - 



