1046 



formation which covers large areas in the group of islands is 

 111 uch thicker in the Shetlands than in the F'æroes. 



The pecuHar barren moorland which occurs as the last link 

 in Ihe Scotch and Shetland Highland-formation, is only slightly re- 

 presented in the Færoes, but the picture which meels the eye most 

 frequently is that of high plateaux torn up by storms and covered 

 by gravel and stones, here and there interrupted, however, by green 

 hill-slopes covered by a faiiiy rich vegetation of grasses, Cyperaceæ, 

 and other piants ^. 



The naturally-formed permanent pasture land, the grassy 

 slopes and the meadows of the Færoes constilute the wealth of 

 the islands; better cannot be found in the Shetlands, while that of Ice- 

 land is far from being as good, and only in Western Norway may 

 similar pastures sometimes be metwith; but it is peculiar to them 

 all that the grasses and other fodder piants which occur in them 

 are often highly nutritious, this is for instance the case with Junciis 

 sqiiarrosus, which plays the same role in the Færoes^, as the small 

 Elyna Bellardi in Iceland ; while Aira cæspitosa, a species of grass 

 af very little importance in soulhern latitudes, becomes a valuable 

 fodder plant towards the north. The following analysis from Ice- 

 land^ may serve as an example: — 



Grasses, Cyperaceæ, rushes, and a few leguminous piants form 

 the main part of the vegetation of economic importance, the latter 

 has been fully and satisfactorily described by C. H. Ostenfeld in 

 his paper The Land-Vegetation of the Færoes, under »The 

 inoor formation« (p. 947); »The grass-slope formation« (p. 962); and 

 »Formations in the cultivated Area« (p. 1005); of which »The Bo 

 formation (Grass meadow)« (p. 1008) should especially be noted. 

 In the above-mentioned piaces all those peculiarities pertaining 

 to the vegetation which are useful to agriculture have been 



' See Botany of the Færoes, p. 33. 



- See The flora of the Færoes, p. 41, in the earlier part of this hook. 



" See Tidsskr. f. Landøkonomi 1898: P. Feilberg, Islands Fremskridt. 



