— 7 — 



while potatoes may give a fair yield right up to the most northern point 

 of the country. 



Norway has an area of about 320000 sq. km. Of this area about 

 70 % is unproductive and consists of mountain, water etc. Some por- 

 tions of this waste land, however, are utilised for pasturing. 



The total area of land under cultivation in the country amounts to 

 699075 hectares. Of this area 324416 hectares consist of tillage-lands 

 and 368 501 hectares of meadow. To this must be added 283 965 hec- 

 tares of natural pasture. The area of forestland in the country is esti- 

 mated at 7 105 468 hectares, of which i 872 442 hectares consist of forest- 

 land interspersed with pastures. 



The farms in Norway are in general of small extent. The average 

 area of cultivated ground (tillage-land and artifical meadow) on the se- 

 parately registered farms is about 3.41 hectares. 92.47 per cent of the 

 203,440 separately registered farms in the whole country have under 10 

 hectares of cultivated ground. Of the remaining 7.53 per cent 11 112 

 holdings (5.46 %) have between 10 and 20 hectares, 2,768 holdings 

 (1.36 %j have between 20 and 30 hectares, 1176 holdings (0.58%) be- 

 tween 30 and 50 hectares, 184 holdings (0.09 %) between 50 and 70 hec- 

 tares, 55 holdings (0.03 %) between 70 and 100 hectares, and 26 holdings 

 (o.oi '/c) have over 100 hectares. To the most of these holdings there 

 belongs more or less woodland and often comparatively large stretches 

 of grazing-land. 



Of Norway's about 2 600 000 inhabitants nearly one million, or about 

 40 9c, are engaged in agriculture. The amount of cultivated land per 

 inhabitant of the country is about 0.3 hectares, a very small area in 

 comparison with most other European countries. Of the countries of 

 Europe only England, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium have a smaller 

 area of cultivated land per inhabitant. 



By far the greatest number of farmers are self-owners. The renting 

 of land is, both absolutely and in comparison with other countries, very 

 little practised in Norway. The principal group of holders on such 

 tenure is formed by the so-called »husmenn« (cottars), i. e., persons who 

 hold a small plot of ground and a house from a farmer in return for the 

 obligation of working a certain numljer of days in the vear on the lat- 

 ter's farm. Besides these there is a small number of tenants-for-life, te- 

 nants by the year and leaseholders. Of the separately registered holdings 

 in our country about 94 % are freehold farms, whereas the correspon- 

 ding figures in other countries are as a rule much lower. 



The owner lives on the farm and works it together with his family. 

 In the case of the somewhat larger farms there is besides some hired 

 help. Occasionally, the cultivated land is owned by companies, by the state, 

 by the local authorities or by individuals who do not live on the spot. 



The cultivated land is utilised mainly for the production of corn 

 (barley, oats, rye and wheat) and of fodder (hay, green crops, turnips), 



