1053 



lambs for the market thai are of valne; of the latter abont 80,000 

 are produced yearly at a value of 7 to 8 shillings per head. 



The sheep are not shorn, but the wool is torn off, this is 

 necessitated by the faet that the wool is in itself so short 

 that even soslightan extra shortening aswould be occa- 

 sioned by the shearing would lessen its value considerably ; 

 besides, the sheep would die of cold if the shearing took place be- 

 fore they began to shed their coat. Many attenipts at improve- 

 ments by »black face« and other kinds have been made, but 

 hitherto no better results have been arrived at, than those attained 

 by the local breeds, which on the whole are excellently adapted 

 to the climate and to the prevailing conditions; only it is to be 

 regretted that their number is so large thai there is not an edequate 

 supply of food for them during winter so that when spring comes 

 they are weakened and losses are consequently inevitable. 



As may be seen from the above table there are only a few 

 horses in the Færoes; roads being very rare, they are not much 

 used and are of rather poor qualily ; but here also attempts at 

 improvement are being made by means of Norse stallions of the 

 seaside breed. During summer the horses graze in the outside 

 fieids; in some few piaces they are kept in stables during winter, 

 in others they go loose in the enclosed fieids and shift for themselves. 



Production and Sale. 



The gross returns of the agriculture may be valued at about 

 one million Kroner (one third of the amount being the result of 

 sheep rearing) of which, however, a small precentage only is 

 possibly converled into cash. The fisheries yield about 3 million, 

 of which the greater part may be reckoned as net profit. There 

 is no doubt whatever that agriculture, which, as mentioned above, has 

 lately been neglected somewhat on account of the great development 

 of the fisheries, deser ves to be helped forward both by the govern- 

 ment and by the inhabitants, as it would be an excellent supplement 

 to the other means of livelihood of the islanders. 



The greatest obstacles in the way of improvements in regard 

 to the departmenls mentioned above are the disadvantageous cir- 



