THE PRESKXT STATE OF AGRICULTrRIC IX SWHDEX mj 



lotted to labourers against payment in the form of labour for the landlord. 

 It is calculated that on about 70 per cent, of the independent farms, and 

 on all the holdings, the area of cultivated land does not exceed 25 acres, 

 which means that the}' can be worked without hired labour. Farms ave- 

 raging 25 to 124 acres of cultivated land represent 28 per cent and large 

 estates with more than 124 acres of cultivated land a little more than 2 per 

 cent, of the total number. 



The area of cultivated land is di\'ided as follows among the different 

 classes : one half belongs to farms of medium size ; about one fourth to 

 small farms ; and the same to large estates. 



This distribution, however, varies greatly in different parts of the country, 

 the large estates, particularly manorial estates, lying chiefly in the fertile 

 plains, while the small ones are in the uplands where the cultivated land is 

 scattered among the mountains, rock}- hills, marshes and streams. In the 

 northern forest di.stricts in particular there are hardly any but small ten- 

 ant farmers, the land belonging mostly to big forest estates. Increased 

 facilities of transit and industrial development have also to some extent 

 affected the distribution of agricultural property, small farms being numerous 

 in the neighbourhood of large towns, industrial centres and railway junctions. 



In Sweden the land is for the most part tilled by the owners themsel- 

 ves, in the proportion of about 85 per cent.; the larger the acreage of farms >; 

 the greater the proportion worked by tenant farmers. The position of the 

 latter towards the landlord has been greatly improved by the new law'S of 

 1907 and 1909 on tenant farmers. In the northern pro\dnces especially, 

 where a large proportion of the land belongs to commercial companies, the 

 rights of the landlord have been restricted in favour of the tenant farmer. 



Measures for the Benefit of Small Farms. The great increase in the num- 

 ber of small farms is partly due to the attempts made to stem townward 

 migration. In order to facilitate land settlement by small farmers, the State 

 has for some time been selling the land in small plots. All Crown domains 

 not jaelding a minimum w^hich was fixed in 1874 at 200 and in 1892 at 

 600 kroner, are put up for sale when the farm leases expire. Under the de- 

 crees of 1894 and 1S99, moreover, those parts of Crown domains which are 

 suitable for forming separate farms must be split up and put up for sale or 

 let. Between 1894 and 1912, about 1800 small farms were sold in the central 

 and southern part of the country. In the northern provinces, portion 

 of forest domains suitable for cultivation are allotted rent free for the first 15 

 years, and for a moderate fixed rent during a further 50 years. The pri- 

 mary object of these grants was to provide the public a tithorities with the 

 necessary labour for forest maintenance, but no obligation in this respect 

 is imposed on the settlers. The number of holdings of this kind is 

 about I 200. 



Divi.sion into small holdings is greaitly facilitated by the .simplicity 

 of legal formalities, chiefly owing to a law of 1896 which enables cultivated 

 land to be separated from forest, the latter being more difficult to work in 

 small plots. This law however does not apply to the northern pro\'inces, 

 where agriculture could hardly be self-supporting without the contribution 



