Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Second part - VI. Agriculture and Cattle-Breeding - 1. Agriculture. Partly after information from P. Lundell, Ebbetorp, Member of the Riksdag - Number and dimension of Farms - The extent of cultivated land
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520 VI. AGRICULTURE AND CATTLE-BREEDING OF SWEDEN.
peasants has diminished for several decades in consequence of the
purchase of farms by saw-mill companies, for cutting down the timber,
after which the cultivated ground is turned into pasture, etc. or is let
to the former owner. Nowadays the wood-land can be sold separately,
but the owner of such a farm without wood-land often finds
himself in a very difficult position. — Some of the chief data respecting
the farms from the point of view of right of possession are given b
the chapter upon social conditions.
Of the whole number of farms in Sweden in 1900, only 15 % were
farmed by tenants. Amongst the smaller farms (up to twenty hectares
of cultivated ground) but 13 % were held by tenants; amongst the
middle-sized farms, again, 30 %, and amongst the larger (exceeding 100
hectares of cultivated ground), as much as 37 This clearly shows
that the farms held on lease are, on an average, larger than those
farmed by the owners themselves. The rent is almost always paid in
cash. Some details of the legislation upon this matter are given below
.under the division Agricultural legislation.
In 1900 there was a total of 167,452 crofters’ allotments and other
small holdings not belonging to the number of farms proper.
The extent of cultivated land
in Sweden at the present time is shown by Tab. 61. More precisely
stated it amounted in 1900 to 3,557,542 hectares, of which 37,661
hectares were garden land and 3,519,881 hectares under farming. In
addition to this there were 1,460,504 hectares of natural meadow-land,
including which the total area used for agriculture in Sweden amounts
in round numbers to 5 million hectares. (An hectare = 2-47 acres).
The extent of cultivated land alone (that is, apart from the natural
meadow-land) amounts to 8-6 % of the area of the land-surface of the
country, but the variations are immense, as is shown by Tab. 61, even
between the different Läns, among which the Malmöhus is cultivated to
an extent of 73-9 % of its whole area, while the immense Län of Norrbotten
remains at but 0-4 %. Still greater differences appear between smaller
districts, as shown by the map on page 519. In the most northern
hundred of Sweden, the amount of cultivated land scarcely exceeds one
ten-thousandth part of the total area, while in the most southern
hundreds, it amounts to 90 % and more.
The figures given on the area of arable land in Sweden in olden
times are very uncertain. Still, it is not improbable that during the
nineteenth century this area has been quadrupled, a result which is,
beyond all doubt, much to the credit of Swedish agriculture. Part
of the reclaimed land has been taken from the area of natural meadow,
but also to a great extent from forest-land or from land previously
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