Small Holdings 5 1 



peasants, hondis, bonders (homdir), yeomen, as we 

 should call them, the descendants of the original settlers 

 of the country. The representatives of this class are 

 the great peasant proprietor class of Norway. 



The immense majority of the landholdings in the 

 country are what we should call quite small holdings. 

 For instance, properties which are called there of a 

 moderate size, are what with us would be considered 

 very small farms. Farms that are capable of support- 

 ing some 2 iiorses, 15 head of cattle, and from 30 to 40 

 sheep; of yielding an annual produce of some 250 

 bushels of cereals, and 500 bushels of potatoes, occupy 

 59 per cent, of the cultivated area of the kingdonj, 

 and constitute one quarter of the total number of 

 landed properties in the country. Below these come 

 the very small holdings, whose owners have other 

 means of subsistence, and are (generally) either labourers, 

 artisans, or fishermen ; these occupy 33 per cent, of the 

 remaining land, and constitute three-quarters of the 

 total number of properties. For really large estates 

 only one per cent, of the properties is left, and only 

 eight per cent, of the cultivated area of the kingdom. 



What is so interesting to us in travelling in the 

 country is to find the names of localities frequently 

 taken from the names of quite small proprietors, men 

 whom we should call mere peasants, who yet have the 

 proud consciousness that they have bestowed a name 

 upon a farm, a valley, or a mountain. Their ancestor 

 may have been the first settler in the district, and 

 the local names have been taken from him, for this 

 seems not infrequently to have been the case. In 

 other instances the name of the family has been 



